Quinn Pushing to End Swipe MetroCards: Report

This article was written by Matt Hampton.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is pushing the MTA to adopt a swipe-free MetroCard policy, according to the New York Daily News.

The paper wrote on Sunday night that the mayoral candidate took the transit authority to task for missing its self-imposed swipeless card deadline in 2012.

The MTA has gone through two chairmen since the 2012 deadline was announced, the second of whom — Joe Lhota — is currently seeking the Republican endorsement to run for mayor. 

A spokesman for the MTA said the agency is waiting to see if a private company will step forward to help create such a program.

MasterCard ran a six-month pilot program in 2010 that allowed card holders to simply pass their credit card through a scanner to enter the subway. According to published reports, less than a quarter of one percent of commuters used the program.