MTA’s Limited Edition MetroCards to Celebrate Earth Day

The MTA announced yesterday that five million green MetroCards will be issued starting on Earth Day, April 22. The limited edition cards will have a list of environmental facts on the back and will be dolled out via MTA vending machines. Ironically, the MetroCards themselves won’t be recyclable, though the MTA did admit at a news conference Monday morning at Grand Central Station that it may be time to move to a more earth-friendly material for the cards.

The green MetroCards are meant to draw attention to the MTA’s new sustainability initiatives, which are the result of recommendations from a panel on renewable energy. Together with New York City and Long Island power authorities, the MTA will begin using six megawatts of solar power over the next few years at various locations across its transit systems. It also announced that it will begin harnessing tidal energy in the East River to partially power the Roosevelt Island F-line subway station. At the press conference yesterday, the MTA also unveiled a statistic that energy efficient bulbs are already in use in more than 50 percent of the light fixtures in Grand Central Station.

• MetroCards Turn Green for Earth Day (Newsday)

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