Mastering the Metro card - Swipe It Right!

Don't be that aggravating tourist who can't swipe the metro card!

You KNOW that guy or gal who repeatedly swipe their metro card only to get a sad digital message from the little screen saying...

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You can almost taste the distaste from the locals behind these folks. Listen, the metro card swiping machine is sensitive.

Too slow, denied.
Too fast, denied.

There is a fine line between them but it is not difficult. After swiping the metro card for over 20 years, I can safely say I am an "expert swiper" at getting that sweet spot...

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To swipe like a local and NOT aggravate New Yorkers who happen to be behind you...

1.     hold you metro card (firmly but not with a death grip!) with the dark gray nearly black stripe FACING YOU, and

2.     glide (not jam!) the metro card straight through (don't curve your motion upward) the machine as if you are gliding an imaginary paper airplane through that machine. The pace should feel natural. 1 second and you have slid the card through the card reader. You are not gliding the card like BOOM! fast. Or like a snail with a fear of the unknown. You glide the card through the card reader like a confident and seasoned local.

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If you forget the above movement, watch the people IN FRONT OF YOU and see how they do it like a pro. PAY ATTENTION, PEOPLE! And if you really can't do it after 3 attempts, stop. Turn around and ask the woman/man behind you who isn't a tourist and ask her/him nicely to help you. (No shame in asking. We can't expect non-locals to know how this sensitive metro card business works now, can we?) You know they are locals if they have a mildly annoyed or impatient face on their head. Watch this person closely and learn it firsthand. New Yorkers are 95% helpful even with an annoyed or impatient face. For real.

Also, be sure NOT to bend you metro card, especially the dark magnetic stripe or your card is very likely unusable. Speaking from experiences.

Ask your friends and family who have been to NYC for their metro card so that you can add money straight into their metro card with cash/credit card at the metro card buying machines within all subway stations, without having to pay for the $1 fee just for the physical metro card. Unless, of course you want the metro card as a souvenir. If you are lucky, you just might get a Game of Thrones design metro card at the machines.

photo by HBO

Good luck Tzeing (silent T, pronounced like seeing) New York!