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New Yorkers who still haven’t recovered from the death of the MetroCard can now take their nostalgia to a fairly extreme place: buying an entire MetroCard vending machine.
New York City Transit is auctioning off a limited number of the hulking machines that once dispensed and refilled the city’s iconic yellow-and-blue fare cards. The auction opened yesterday and runs through August 19 at 8pm, giving transit obsessives, collectors and anyone with an unusually large living room a chance to own a very recognizable piece of New York history.
There are actually two varieties up for grabs: the classic MetroCard Vending Machine, or MVM, was first installed on January 25, 1999, and accepted cash, credit and debit cards. It is also an absolute beast: Each one measures 80 inches long, 42 inches wide and 36 inches deep and weighs approximately 1,050 pounds. The smaller MetroCard Express Machine, or MEM, accepted only credit and debit cards and weighs a comparatively manageable 210 pounds.
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Before you start mentally redecorating your apartment around one, however, there are a few catches. The electronic and payment-processing components have been removed from these machines, and everything is being sold as-is. (The MTA’s sales terms are even more explicit, noting that it won’t inspect or test the machines before sale.)
There’s also the small matter of getting your 1,050-pound souvenir home. Winning bidders have to pay in full on the day they’re notified and pick up their machine within 10 calendar days. Buyers are entirely responsible for loading and transportation—the MTA will not provide equipment or help you wrestle the thing into your U-Haul. A limited number will be available for pickup in Brooklyn, while the rest are in Queens.
And don’t start planning your new MetroCard-themed side hustle just yet. The terms state that buyers cannot use the machines commercially, or reproduce, use or modify copyrighted materials, logos or trademarks on them, without a separate written license from the MTA.
Still, as NYC increasingly becomes an OMNY town, it’s hard to imagine a more aggressively New York conversation piece.