Is it legal to use one MTA card in New York city for 2 persons?

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Drew the New Yorker

An unlimited ride MetroCard (daily, weekly, monthly) can only be swiped once every 18 minutes.

This is to prevent two people using the same card.

So to answer your question, yes, it's legal, just very inconvenient to do so. Spend the money and buy one card each.

Edit:
Why on earth would someone give me a thumbs down for giving a correct answer?

farfel

gotham, i also gave you a thumb up...

i also think that the thumbs down have more to do with the actual MetroCard limitations than with your answer...

GothamGuy called it and I gave you that thumb up there! :)

Fall Beauty

I know that on a regular one use MetroCard you can do it, but on anything higher than a single use, once every 18 minutes.

shileetz

well yea, its legal if you use the same card...but you both have to pay 2 bucks each
and yea you can buy an unlimited, just gotta wait 18 minutes before you can swipe it again
but if you want to go in together with one swipe, sorry, not legal.
hope i cleared it up for you.

spadezgurl22

no, if its an unlimited weekly u will have to wait exactly 18 minutes to swipe the card again for the next person to use. if u both try to sneak throgh u will get caught trust m e i have been caight 2x by an undercover plain clothes officer and got a 120 ticket both times, dont be cheap or stupid the ticket is only a 2 dollar fare.

Rogue Angel

a 7 day pass is $21 or $28, i forget...but trust me that amount of money is nothing compared to what you will be spending when you get tdown there...so dont fret about a 20 something dollar metro pass, each of you get yopur own

Native New Yorker

My friend, I've see this problem occurred to a lot of tourist. The answer to that is no, you can not share the same weekly MetroCard, because if one person swipes the card at the turnstile on the subway, and the next person has to swipe the same card, the second person will not be able enter the subway.

The second person will have to wait 20 minutes in order to use the card again to enter the subway. That's how the MTA set up the system when they introduce the unlimited pass several years ago. My advice, bite the bullet and purchase a weekly pass for each each of you.

Good luck and happy travels.
Native New Yorker and subway rider

Marie

An unlimited pass will not work for two people, as you have to wait 18 minutes between swipes.

But if you both chip in for one card, you can increase the number of bonus rides that you get on the card, so you can save money that way.

Also - if you do share a card becareful with transfers. The trick is that you swipe twice to get on the train - but if you transfer to a bus, you only swipe once!

plushy_bear

I would check, but my guess would be no. One pass - one person. In fact, I was in Paris (for work, unfortunately!) and bought a ticket good for 3 zones for 5 days. One day, agents got on board the bus and checked to make sure that everyone on board had their own ticket.
You might lose your OWN pass if caught; I personally wouldn't chance it.

BTW - for those of you who gave me a thumbs down, the MTA site itself says that the unlimited ride metro card is for ONE person at a time! You may not like it, but it doesn't mean my answer is incorrect.

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/metrocard/compare.htm

Happy visiting!

Yankees, Rangers, Jets, Knicks

Yes.

Smelly Cat

Two riders for the price of one ? I don't think so !

gatekeeper002007

Yeah they don't care you paid for it you can "pass" the card all you want

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