To anyone who happened upon a funeral in Washington Square Park in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon and wondered who was being honored, the clue was in the outfits: at least one person was displaying the deceased on her mourning hat.
It was a funeral for the MetroCard, which is being sold in New York for the last time on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
The ceremony, held in frigid weather, attracted a crowd of a few dozen. There were not a lot of tears, though occasionally, someone called out “swipe, swipe,” prompting the crowd to respond with a somber: “swipe, swipe,” according to footage from the ceremony broadcast by CBS New York.
Ashes, made of an unknown substance, were tossed from a blue urn into the air. A cake decorated with bright yellow frosting and elegant swoops of icing, was presented. And a framed photo of the deceased — perhaps controversially, for some New Yorkers, wearing a Mets baseball cap — was displayed.
The MetroCard is being replaced with OMNY, a tap-and-go payment system, which is already used for 94 percent of subway trips.
Kaicey Rahn, a funeral guest, refused to comment on OMNY in an interview with NY1, but remembered the MetroCard for always being there late at night when people are trying to get around the city.
“Who do we call?” Ms. Rahn said. “We call the MetroCard. And now we’ll be reminded of his absence every time we go on the train.”
The MetroCard first arrived in 1994, replacing tokens. It will still be accepted in 2026, but it is not known for how long, and riders will not be able to refill them.
The funeral on Tuesday was organized on social media and was one of a number of actions this year that memorialized the MetroCard. There have also been commemorative MetroCard cookies and bubble tea, museum exhibits and social media challenges.
At the MetroCard funeral, the crowd said goodbye to the card after three decades of service with a rendition of “This Little Light of Mine,” swapping the word “light” for “card.”
Amanda Holpuch covers breaking news and other topics.
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