Online Metrocard exchange pays the fare for essential workers

A commuter swipes his Metrocard in happier times (last month). Photo via MTA Flickr

By David Brand

A new online Metrocard exchange is pairing work-from-home New Yorkers with the essential employees who keep the hospitals, bodegas and slice shops running during the COVID-19 crisis.

The no-frills website CoronaMetro features two simple surveys: one for New Yorkers who need a Metrocard and another for sequestered neighbors willing to part with theirs. “Doesn't look pretty, but it does the job. Just like the subway,” reads the website’s motto.

New Yorkers on Twitter and Reddit have been encouraging the teleconference crowd to share their monthly Metrocards with commuters, but a Brooklyn resident named Ashley — she declined to give her last name — realized there was a gap between the people who had the cards and the people who needed them.

“People who were posting about sharing them and people who were posting about needing them weren’t in the same places online,” said Ashley, who works in advertising. 

Website respondents answer a handful of questions about how much time is left on their monthly passes and what neighborhood they live in. CoronaMetro connects them with a local counterpart to set up the exchange, ideally in less than 24 hours. 

At least 176 people have signed up to share or receive a Metrocard since CoronaMetro went live Friday, Ashley said. She has matched about three-quarters of the respondents so far, she said. 

“A lot of the ones who are donating are coming from the affluent parts of Brooklyn who tend work jobs you can work from home in,” Ashley said, citing Park Slope, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Prospect Heights.

“Now it seems like there’s a lot more need in the Bronx, Staten Island and Southern Queens and Coney Island,” she added.

Home health aides, cooks, grocery store clerks, pharmacy staff and other low-wage workers are vital to the city — now more than ever. 

If you have a Metrocard to share or you’d like to receive a certified, pre-owned pass visit CoronaMetro.com.