SVA Design research and writing

Overlooked object: NYC Subway Tokens
Daniela B. R.

Year 2140
I vividly remember the day went I found the talisman under the dirt. JJ and I went upstate on a hiking trip to Bear Mountain two weeks ago. Right before we got into the water train I saw it shining at me. I pick it up, it looked like those old carnival tokens that they use in the movies. However, this one had the letter Y cut out in the middle. It was a small round golden metal piece and on one side of it said “Good for one fare” on the other “New York City Transit Authority”. At the time I didn’t knew what this meant or who did it belonged to. I wondered how old was this thing. While we were returning to the city I couldn’t stop staring at it. It’s was amazing, like anything I have never felt! It had circles rims, curvy lines, letters popping out, but my favorite part was the Y letter cut out hole which made it so recognizable and distinctive to the touch.
As soon as I arrive home I ask Google for more information about the New York Transit Authority. That’s actually the old subway system that has been flooded since 2093. I found out that before our Integrated sub dermal implants, the way people paid their subway rides was with this small sheet of plastic called the MetroCard, but more interestingly before the MetroCard, there was the Subway Token. That was the little piece of metal that I was holding in my hand.
Its story is quite funny actually, from 1904 to 1953 the people of New York paid with these things called nickels and dimes, which were similar in size and shape to the token, for many years they didn’t increase the fare so people could pay with one single coin. But in 1953 they increased it to 15 cents which were actually two coins together, back then everything was so mechanical and the silly engineers couldn’t figure out how to make a machine that took both coins at the same time so they decided to make a single Token one. This way they could raise the prices every time they wanted without having to change the whole system. So it went like that for around 50 years, making changes to size, design, and material. The one I was holding in my mind was the 1970’s token which later got replaced by the 1980’s. This one had a solid Y in the middle instead of the hole, apparently, the cutout in the other token trapped lint from people’s pockets and eventually all this dirt clogged the turnstiles.
Many people at that time loved to break the rules so they introduced other similar shaped objects into the machines to skip the fare. To avoid this the metro company redesigned the token in 1986. The new one used two different metals a brass coating rim with a steel center that could be verified magnetically by the machines.
The final token that lived from 1995 to 2003 was the “Five Borough” token. It had a pentagonal hole at the center to symbolize the five boroughs of New York City. This one was made of a special alloy detectable by the machines as well.
Hesitant I put this token near my eye and look through its Y-shaped cut. I try to imagine that old New York City, the one that is under the water now. I imagine myself walking around the central park, listening to the noisy streets, looking at the yellow cabs and people frantically walking around inserting my token into the turnstiles machines and riding the subway.
In a world where most things are digitized and don’t exist in the physical realm, holding this tiny antiseptic but beautiful token which tells a story felt really good. It reminded me of those old tales where people lived happily making picnics in the park without the worrying about food scarcity, flooding or heat waves.