RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC. Gothamist Listen Live Donate News Only 1 day left to bid in MetroCard machine auction By Louis C. Hochman Published Aug 18, 2026 at 1:23 p.m. ET
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This deadline is approaching faster than the 1 train.
New Yorkers have one day left to send in their bids to win a defunct MetroCard vending machine — either the standard model or an Express version. The MTA is accepting bids until Wednesday at 8 p.m. for the opportunity to buy either of the hulking bits of New York City transit history.
The MTA isn’t saying how many machines are on offer, how many bids have been received so far, or how high the bids are going. A spokesperson said they can’t discuss the auction, to ensure the integrity of the process.
Let’s do a little math: A $100 bid would be the equivalent of more than 34 trips at the final $2.90 base fare for a subway ride before the MTA phased out the cards at the end of 2025. A $1,000 bid would be the equivalent of nearly 345 rides. One wonders how many people have that many subway trips they’d like to remember.
The standard vending machines, introduced in 1999, are 80 inches long, 42 inches wide, and 36 inches deep, and weigh approximately 1,050 pounds, according to the MTA. The Express machines, introduced later, are 21 inches long, 14 inches wide, 42 inches high and weigh approximately 210 pounds. Some of the Express machines will come with a pedal, but there are no guarantees.
The MTA says a limited number of machines will be available for pickup in Brooklyn, but the rest will be picked up in Queens. Win one, and you’ll be responsible for transportation, including loading it up onto any equipment or vehicle you bring (and for squeezing it into an NYC apartment).
You also must pick up the machine within 10 days of winning, and submit full payment by the close of business on the day you’re notified of a winning bid by email.
The MTA notes the machines aren’t operational (so no running a subway stop out of your third-story walkup), and the electronic and payment processing components have been removed.
The MTA’s got other memorabilia for sale: line strip maps, refuse canisters, emergency telephones and transit station signs. Notices of available items are sent by email to people who message [email protected] seeking information.
Last month, five people beat fairly overwhelming odds to win the blue-and-orange trash cans New York City put on its street corners to celebrate the Knicks’ historic, first-in-a-half-century championship run. More than 125,000 people entered a raffle for those items, making the odds of winning about .004%.
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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