Originally Posted by
mbelsky
My easy pay MetroCard has gotten worn and is asking me to swipe again more and more often. If I report it damaged online, it says my current card will immediately be deactivated.
That's dumb, as I cannot get a new card before my current one stops working, and continue to use my current card until the replacement arrives.
I'm going to try calling when they open at 9, but am not super helpful. Isn't this a fairly common scenario that they should have planned for? There should be an option to get a new card that will only deactivate the old one once I either activate or use the new one.
What you describe is one of the downsides of EasyPay. If you take good care of your card (like my wife does--even though she uses hers more than me) they will mail out a new card shortly before your old one expires and you can keep using the old one until you activate the new one. But if they wear out (and I've had at least 2 or 3 wear out over the years) I think you have to deactivate it to request a new one, and use a different card in the interim. Unless there's some secret replacement method they offer you over the phone (which I'd love to know about for the next time mine wears out).
Originally Posted by
FlyinHawaiian
If you live in the NYC area, just go to a manned booth and have them transfer the balance of the damaged card onto another one. As long as it can be read by the swipe inside the booth, it can be done.
That works for most metrocards, but not for EasyPay metrocards (EasyPay are the ones that automatically refill from your credit card so you don't have to use the machines/booths to refill). The folks in the booth can't do anything with an EasyPay card.