MetroCard 'Trick' Unlocks Unlimited Free Subway Rides: NYC Rapper Posts Tutorial

BROOKLYN, NY — News you can use! A how-to video tutorial posted by a mysterious Brooklyn rapper and modern-day Robin Hood of sorts, under the name The Blue Hundreds, details an age-old "trick" that turns certain MetroCards into magical — and highly illegal — tokens with which you can ride the New York City subway free, forever.

The rapper, a self-reported graduate of Bergtraum High School in Chinatown, Manhattan, posted his "MetroCard Song" to YouTube back in mid-April. (Along with an accompanying Instagram video tutorial, for visual learners.)

However, it took until this week for NYC media outlets to start taking notice.

"I got me a trick/ Well, more like a glitch/ I'll getcha endless trips," the song goes. Scroll down for the full lyrics. (And for more local news stories that affect you, sign up for Patch's free email newsletters and real-time alerts in your NYC neighborhood.)

Just a heads up: If you get caught with a bent MetroCard, you could be charged with felony possession of a forged instrument, according to city officials.

Still willing to risk it? Here's how the trick works, in summary:

First, you need to get your hands a special two-trip MetroCard. These cards are somewhat rare, and not available for purchase at the usual ticket machines. An official source within the MTA told Patch that they're "only distributed through hospitals and various social service agencies to their patients/clients." However, according to the New York Daily News, the two-trip cards can often be found "tossed on the floor of subway stations," seeing as they're not refillable and quickly become useless.

Next, bend the corner of your (empty) two-trip card with the magnetic stripe facing upward.

And finally, once you're at a subway turnstile, swipe the card twice while its corner is still bent. Then unbend the card's corner and swipe it through the turnstile two more times. That should do it!

We haven't tried the trick for ourselves — it is illegal, after all — but the MTA confirmed it does work, though it may be difficult to pull off.

And it will stop working, the MTA said, when the NYC subway rolls out its fancy new pay system sometime in the next few years.

Below are the full lyrics to the "MetroCard Song," courtesy of Genius.

[HOOK 2X]

It might be right
It might be wrong
So dance along
To the "MetroCard Song"

[VERSE]

This is something that you should know
I went to Bergtraum High, check out my Q-Tip flo
The racists got you feeling like a U.F.O?
It's so expensive when you travel to and fro?
I got me a trick
Well, more like a glitch
I'll getcha endless trips
Lemme tell you this sh*t
You find an empty "2-Trip" MetroCard and bend it a bit
At the rear
A little near the edge of the strip
You swipe it once
You swipe it again
You unbend the card
And then you swipe it again
One more time you gotta swipe it again
You got it my friend!
It's dollars and sense
Now they might say
That you're evading the fare
BUT THEY'RE RAISING THE FARE!
I wouldn't say that they care
Don't be a hot boy with the sh*t my n*gga
Stay in the clear
And I'ma do my dance and let you take it from here

[HOOK 2x]

It might be right
It might be wrong
So dance along
To the "MetroCard Song"

[OUTRO]

That felt good

Lead photo by Simone Wilson/Patch