Metro card

Can anyone advise on the pay as you go Metro card? It says you can buy one for up to 4 people to use together, how does this work? They seem a good idea as you can just load on as much money as you want at a time.

Thanks.

Metro card

I may be in error about this, but I recall that when the Mtero Card first came out, there was a card that four people could use together. What happened was the a few enterprising New Yorkers, always on the lookout for a way to beat the system, purchased these cards and stationed themselves near the turnstiles or card vending machines. They would offer to let people use their card for $1 (the fare is $2) and thus would make a buck for each person who used their card. To stop this, the MTA put in a system that prevents these cards from being used without a time gap. I believe 15 minutes. So while this type of card may still be available, each member of your party would have to wait 15 minutes prior to using it at the same station.

This system may have changed. I suggest you email the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) to double check.

Metro card

Hi

My wife and I went to NYC in July last year. We bought each our own MetroCard and it was a great to use the subway to get around. One day I went wrong and I had to cross the street to get on the subway in the right direction...I had problems swiping my card then because there is a 15 minutes periode (or something like that) from you use it until you can use it again.

I have posted a trip report with pictures from my trip to NYC on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com by the way. Maybe you can find some useful information there :-)

Regards

Gard

You can buy a metro card and put a certain amount of money on it. There is a $20 option and a $40 option, and I believe one to pick your own amount. When I lived in NYC, I didn%26#39;t ride the subway every day so I would do this. It worked better for me than buying a weekly or monthly card since I didn%26#39;t use it all of the time. Those cards you can use several times in a row. At times I would share my card with guests. The first person would swipe it, then pass it back to the next person and so on.

If you buy a weekly or monthly card, however, you aren%26#39;t able to do this. You must wait 15 min. before the card can be swiped again.

I see no real advantage in sharing one card, though, if you are going to be there a while. I only shared my card if the other person was short a fare, or if they weren%26#39;t visiting for long enough to buy a card. It would be easier for everybody to have their own card, but it is possible to share one if you don%26#39;t purchase the cards with time limits.

As a side note to my last post, I was just in the city last weekend and I did this. I still had a good bit of money left on my card, so my friends and I shared one. This was just last weekend, so I know it still works!

There are also day passes, and other options. Ask at your hotel what the best choice is for you, or the subway attendant at one of the stops. If they cannot suggest anything better for your group then I would get everyone their own card. Putting $20 on one card or $1 on twenty cards is the same difference, and you can put as much or little as you like on any card...

I was in Manhattan for 4 days and bought the 7 day pass for $21. We used the subway A LOT so it was the very best deal for me. We did run into a problem when we swiped our card but didn%26#39;t get through the gate and needed to wait, someone told us 18 minutes, but we doubled up going through with strangers...New Yorkers were the best!