Although not the first tidbit of news recently regarding NYC Transit, the plan to eliminating subway tokens actually piqued my interest rather than frustration. Since the advent of the single ride MetroCard, I’ve actually kind of wondered why tokens are still around. Single ride cards are paper and valid for only two hours, so they aren’t the kind of thing you’d want to carry around with you all the time - but that’s what regular MetroCards are for. Cards are easier to keep in your pocket or wallet than a handful of metal pieces, and the 10% discount for card purchases over $15 (which amounts to one free ride per ten purchased) doesn’t apply to tokens.

I’m curious about what will happen to all the tokens. I’ve still got a few sitting in my change jar, I think; I can just see myself ten years from now showing them off to the younguns and explaining how in my day, the walk to the Q station was uphill both ways.

Less appealing than contemplating the future of obsolete tokens is contemplating how I’ll afford to pay subway fare at all if (or rather when, as it’s starting to appear inevitable now) the proposed fare hike to $2.00 per ride takes effect. When I first moved here, the current $1.50 ride seemed a bit steep after Boston’s 85 cents - which I hear has also increased - but that changed pretty quickly to amazement once I understood exactly the scale of the subway system. In terms of distance, a commute like mine, from the depths of Brooklyn, would in Boston merit a ride on the Commuter Rail train rather than the subway itself, but New York is just on an entirely different scale, and so is its subway. $2.00 a ride, though - that’s going to take even more getting used to.