The MetroCard is on its way to becoming a relic, marking a shift from everyday subway routine to a nostalgic chapter in New York’s transit history. The upcoming FA R Ewell, MetroCard exhibit will celebrate three decades of service by presenting the card’s evolution as it fades from a familiar rider’s tool to a piece of cultural memory.
To commemorate the magnetic stripe card’s retirement, the New York Transit Museum is hosting a Brooklyn-based exhibit opening December 17. Titled FA R Ewell, MetroCard, the show invites visitors to stroll through MetroCard’s past, featuring a curated mix of rare artifacts and familiar memorabilia that highlight the card’s journey from launch to cultural icon.
According to the exhibit description, as OMNY takes over the payments landscape, attendees will be encouraged to explore the MetroCard’s origins, its rollout across the system, the underlying technology, and the ways it became a defining symbol for a generation of riders.
Museum curator Jodi Shapiro notes that the display will include scarce, limited-edition cards tied to pop culture moments—from Twin Peaks and David Bowie—along with a 1997 MetroCard vending machine prototype and materials from a 1993 ad campaign for Cardvaark, the anthropomorphized aardvark that almost became MetroCard’s mascot.
While FA R Ewell centers on the card’s history, the museum also plans a separate exhibit next year to examine how the MetroCard has been repurposed and reinterpreted as art.
Shapiro explains that New York’s relationship with change is uniquely intense: residents simultaneously embrace progress and resist it, often clinging to systems that still work even when newer options exist. She notes the city’s distinctive emotional bond to its transit and payment methods, a sentiment she has watched firsthand as someone who witnessed the transition away from subway tokens.
In tandem with the exhibit, the MTA is staging a celebratory send-off that nods to the MetroCard’s legacy through food events. Participants can enjoy MetroCard-themed treats, such as Carvel’s promos offering free MetroCard sprinkles with qualifying purchases and Cardvaark cookies at Zabar’s for a modest price.
FA R Ewell, MetroCard will run starting December 17 at the New York Transit Museum, located at 99 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn. General admission, including the exhibit, is $10 for adults and $5 for children.
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