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 At the transit museum store, you can buy a set of the five "historic" New York City subway tokens, introduced in 1953, 1970, 1980, 1986 and 1995, as well as subway tokens made into key rings, lapel pins, cuff links, bracelets, and money clips. Other stores sell ashtrays, paperweights, drinking glasses, coasters, mugs, ties, t-shirts, Christmas ornaments, even dresses festooned with the image of the token. The People's Hall of Fame, which honors New Yorkers every year for contributions to the city's cultural life, presents inductees with an enormous replica of a token. There are Frisbees shaped like giant tokens. The only thing the New York City subway token will no longer be used for, as of May 4, is to get you onto the subway. 
 
 The Metropolitan Transportation Authority ended all sales of the token at midnight April 12. On May 4, when the transit fare is scheduled to rise from $1.50 to $2, the 13 million tokens still circulating will no longer be "good for one fare" on the subway, leaving the Metrocard the exclusive currency of straphangers. Bus fare boxes will accept tokens (plus 50 cents) until December 31. Then, 50 years after its birth, the little brass coin will essentially end its working life - except for one small gig: For the time being, tokens will continue to be sold for $1.50 and used at the Roosevelt Island Tram, which is run by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, not the MTA. 
 
 The demise of the token has been expected ever since 1994 when New York became one of the last subway systems in the country to introduce fare cards. The blue and yellow MetroCards are cheaper to produce and can be programmed to offer discounts and transfers. Emptying tokens from turnstiles and delivering them to token booths is time-consuming and expensive. Phasing out the token, transit officials say, will save $6 million a year in handling costs. "In this time of dwindling resources, the shift away from tokens will allow us to be more efficient," Lawrence G. Reuter, the president of New York City Transit told The New York Times recently. 
 
 And so the clatter of metal tokens being emptied into buckets will soon join the clip-clop of horses on cobblestones, newsboys shouting "Extra" and the nasal intonations of Joan Rivers' taxi tape among New York's many bygone sounds. 
 
 1953 Token 
 
 fare: 15Â˘ 
 
 New Yorkers already seem to have accepted the demise of the token. Few people spoke out on its behalf at hearings this winter on the fare hike, and indeed, by early this year, tokens were already being used for only eight percent of all rides. (There are exceptions: One Paula Glatzer wrote to the Times "I care about the end of subway tokens. I always carry a few with me, mostly for the times my Metrocard won't swipe....Why can't we get dependable readers, like those in other cities?") 
 
 The token is sure to live on, as item of nostalgia and icon of New York -- more humble than the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, but a potent symbol nonetheless. 
 
 "It says 'NYC' on it, so that's certainly a big part of its appeal, but it's also popular because it's a very democratic symbol," said Sarah Henry, a historian with the Museum of the City of New York, which featured the token prominently in its recent exhibition entitled "NYCentury" on the city's symbols. "Because the subway is so deeply embedded in New York's identity and so many different kinds of people use it, the token by symbolizing the subway comes to symbolize the city." In that way, at least, the token will not be replaced: "The MetroCard," she said with a touch of scorn, "doesn't have the visual presence of the token." 
 
 RELATIVE NEWCOMER 
 
 The token is so closely identified with New York that most people do not realize that the subway system carried New Yorkers for 49 years before it acquired its own currency. For 44 years it cost a five cents to ride a bus or subway and all riders needed to get on board was a nickel. When the fare rose to 10 cents in 1948, the city refit the turnstiles to accept dimes. 
 
 1970 Token 
 
 fare: 30Â˘ 
 
 But just as technology would eventually doom the token, technological limits created it. In 1953, when the fare rose to 15 cents, engineers could not figure out how to make a turnstile operate with a dime and nickel or three nickels. To solve the problem, they devised their own 15-cent currency. 
 
 Those first small tokens set the pattern that would become world-famous. On one side was the legend "Good for One Fare," on the other "New York City Transit Authority." In the center were the letters "NYC" with the "Y" cut out. 
 
 That token lasted 17 years, surviving a fare hike to 20 cents, and thousands probably remain squirreled away as keepsakes. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who reached manhood in the 1950s and 1960s can still recall receiving one of those little tokens in the envelope with their draft notices to make it easy for them to report to the induction center. 
 
 In 1970, a larger token, also with a "Y" cutout, debuted along with the 30-cent fare. A decade later, when the fare reached 60 cents, a solid token with a stamped "Y" replaced it. When the cost of a ride rose to $1 in 1986, the "bull's eye" token, which featured a round center plug made from gray metal, was introduced. The last version of the token, with a cut-out pentagon, appeared with the $1.50 fare in 1995. 
 
 THEFT AND SPECULATION 
 
 1980 Token 
 
 fare: 60Â˘ 
 
 As the tokens gained in value, petty criminals devised ingenious if revolting ways to get them. Crooks jammed the coin slot to keep the tokens from falling down. As the commuter walked off indignantly -- out a token but unable to get through the gate -- the perpetrator would swoop in and suck the token out of the turnstile. The epidemic led to widespread disgust among even hardened New Yorkers, and to ingenuity among subway workers who fought back with mace, chili powder and even super-strength glue. 
 
 Fare increases also gave rise to a unique form of arbitrage. When a hike was announced, people would begin hoarding extra tokens, hoping that transit officials would continue to use the old ones, instead of going to the trouble of minting a new coin. Sometimes the subway riders were right and made a nice little profit. 
 
 This year, collectors and nostalgic New Yorkers began stocking up as soon as the token's demise was confirmed. Anticipating a run on the coins, New York City Transit limited sales to two per customer on March 30. 
 
 But, so far a massive investment in subway tokens seems unlikely to reap big payoffs. A couple of days after official sales ended, the last version of the token was selling on eBay www.ebay.com for between $1.99 and $14.50. Even the original token, the dime-sized 1953 version with the Y cutout, was drawing bids of no more than about $25. 
 
 SIXTY MILLION CUFFLINKS? 
 
 1986 Token 
 
 fare: $1.00 
 
 What about all those tokens? Will they join keys for defunct locks, cigarette lighters and old scouting medals in the backs of thousands of dressers drawer across the city? Or will the financially ailing transit authority find some way to make gold from brass? 
 
 Transit officials are not sure. Of the 60 million tokens minted for the Transportation Authority in 1991, 41 million are in a vault somewhere in Queens. Transit officials will not say where, for security reasons. 
 
 If the past is any guide, most will end up in a furnace. "If they follow previous iterations of the token, they will be sold as scrap," said Charles Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit. He said the scrap dealers could sell some of the tokens to jewelers and souvenir makers, but New York City Transit will not get into the business of making cufflinks. About six million of the current tokens are already believed to be in the hands of collectors or are lost. The Roosevelt Island Tram bought 7,000. 
 
 Kilmartin Industries, the Attleboro, Mass, mint that sold the 1991 batch of tokens to the system for $7.6 million, doesn't have much interest in them. "It doesn't stir any emotions with me at all to be honest with you," Tom Vermillion, a sales manager at Kilmartin, told Newsday recently. 
 
 METROCARD HUT? 
 
 Now that the token is gone, straphangers face a new problem: What should they call the 700-plus structures formerly known as token booths? 
 
 1995 Token 
 
 fare: $1.50 
 
 Officially, New York City Transit has rechristened them "station service booths," but that seems unlikely to catch on. Our recent brief but fruitful survey of subway riders yielded a variety of suggestions, among them: MetroCard sales booth, fare sales booth, good-for-nothing booth, little house of cards, metro mansion, MetroPod, ticket hut, kiosk, information booth, token booth ("because the person inside is usually the 'token' human around"), MetroCard Hut (or McHut, for short), no-use booth, card shack, hold-up target, "customer service center -- ha!," bullet-proof transportation hospitality center and "affordable housing." 
 
 Of course, people still "dial" push-button phones, so maybe New Yorkers, notorious creatures of habit, won't change at all. They will simply buy their MetroCards at a token booth. ||||| FILE - In this June 21, 2017 file photo, a subway train approaches the platform at Brooklyn's Smith Street above-ground subway station, in New York. Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to tax the wealthiest 1 percent of New Yorkers to fund repairs and improvements to the beleaguered subway system. The proposal comes as the mayor and Gov. Andrew Cuomo continue to squabble over who is responsible for paying for repairs to the nation's largest system. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — The mayor of New York City wants to tax the wealthiest 1 percent to fund repairs and improvements to the beleaguered subway system. 
 
 The proposal comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, continue to squabble over responsibility for paying for repairs to the nation’s largest transit system that has seen growing delays, mechanical failures, power outages and even derailments. 
 
 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota recently unveiled an emergency plan to stabilize the system. The governor offered to split the cost of the plan with the city, but the mayor refused to commit money to support it. 
 
 The mayor’s tax plan is meant as a long-term solution, not a quick fix, he said. It aims to generate nearly $800 million annually with the bulk of the money going toward capital upgrades to subways and buses, and must be approved by state lawmakers. A formal announcement was expected Monday. 
 
 “Instead of searching for a quick-fix that doesn’t exist, or simply forking over more and more of our tax dollars every year, we have come up with a fair way to finance immediate and long-term transit improvement,” de Blasio said in a statement Sunday. 
 
 The tax would increase the top income tax rate from about 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent for married couples who make more than $1 million and individuals making more than $500,000, city officials said. It would affect about 32,000 of New Yorkers filing taxes in the city, or just less than 1 percent, officials said. 
 
 “Rather than sending the bill to working families and subway and bus riders already feeling the pressure of rising fares and bad service, we are asking the wealthiest in our city to chip in a little extra,” de Blasio said. 
 
 New Yorkers already contribute to the agency through other taxes and fees. De Blasio’s plan also includes funding to offer half-price fare cards for low-income riders. 
 
 The Rider’s Alliance said the push to help low-income riders “has never been so urgent.” 
 
 “It’s time to end a system where low-income New Yorkers have to skip meals, beg for swipes or even jump turnstiles in order to get to work or school,” executive director John Raskin said in a statement. 
 
 The current five-year transit system capital plan, which covers upkeep for the subways, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, plus other pieces of the transit system, is about $29 billion. The city has pledged $2.5 billion and the state $8.3 billion, plus Cuomo recently pledged an additional $1 billion. 
 
 But that doesn’t include money for immediate repairs. Lhota, who proposed an $836 million emergency plan, said in a statement Sunday that the agency needs additional short-term funding now. 
 
 “There’s no question we need a long-term funding stream, but emergency train repairs can’t wait on what the state legislature may or may not do next year,” Lhota said. 
 
 Cuomo echoed the sentiment, calling on the mayor to fund the emergency plan. 
 
 “Riders suffer every day and delaying repairs for at least a year is neither responsible nor responsive to the immediate problem, or riders’ pain,” he said in a statement. 
 
 The number of subway delays has tripled in the past five years, to 70,000 per month, and rush hour cancellations and delays on the Long Island Rail Road were at the highest level in 10 years, according to a June report. 
 
 About 5.7 million people ride the subway on an average weekday. 
 
 The finger-pointing by city and state officials is due in part to the transit agency’s messy ownership structure. According to Lhota, 1981 law was meant to help the city during a major financial crisis, when it could not pay capital costs and the subways were in much worse shape than they are now. The state picked up the tab, but it was never meant to be permanent, he said. ||||| A typical morning commute turned into straphangers’ worst nightmare after a packed subway train derailed in Queens Friday morning, injuring more than 19 people, cracking a rail and trapping about 1,000 people underground for hours. 
 
 Passengers described a harrowing scene as a loud screeching noise filled the tunnel just before the train came to an abrupt stop. 
 
 “The train was shaking and the cars in the front started tilting to the right,” said Melissa Delgado, 33. “I heard a pang and then a screech and then the train came to a halt.” 
 
 “It was a metal-on-metal sound and it was really loud,” said Razi Levin, 40, who was on his way to Manhattan. 
 
 The Brooklyn-bound F train ran into trouble near Broadway and 65th Street in Woodside. 
 
 Local service for the E and F trains was restored just after 5 p.m. as crews continued to feverishly remove debris from the tracks to allow rush-hour trains to pass through Queens. 
 
 Six of the eight cars derailed, causing smoke to fill the cars, inducing panic attacks and breathing issues for many of the straphangers. 
 
 View video 
 
 “It was a horrifying experience,” said Tayyib Siddiqui, 31, who was in one of the first cars. “We were calming people down, telling them the worst already happened.” 
 
 Siddiqui said people on his car thought the train was going to catch fire as smoke billowed in. Power was cut to the area quickly, which caused the ventilation system to turn off, said Deputy Assistant Chief James Leonard. 
 
 “I thought, ‘This is it, we’re not going to survive,’” Siddiqui said he thought as the train lost control. “Thank God the sparks were the worst of it.” 
 
 Many passengers feared for their lives as they felt the subway cars sway back and forth. 
 
 “I thought I was going to die,” said Jemina Asamoah, 24, who was on her way to Brooklyn when the car she was in derailed. “Thank God I’m alive.” 
 
 Angela Forbes, 56, was one of the passengers taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center to treat a knee injury. 
 
 “I’m going to be fine, but the memories are going to take a while to get over,” she said. 
 
 Forbes is concerned about the medical bills that will stack up, as her insurance company informed her she’d be responsible for covering the ambulance ride. 
 
 “I think it’s ridiculous because it’s not my fault the train derailed. I don’t think I should be responsible for that, it’s the responsibility of the MTA.” 
 
 More than 100 firefighters worked together to pull people trapped underground through street grates and keep passengers calm, according to the MTA. 
 
 The stranded passengers sat on the sweltering subway cars with little information besides a promise from the loudspeaker that “help was on the way,” said Alassane Ngaide, who jumped on the train just after 10 a.m. at the 71st Street stop in Forest Hills. 
 
 The original plan was to have the passengers walk onto a rescue train that would transport them to the next stop, but Ngaide said officials scrapped that plan and started leading passengers on an odyssey to the streets. 
 
 “I walked down the little ladder they put up against the train,” he said. “They walked us down the tracks in the dark to another ladder.” 
 
 Once above ground, passengers felt disoriented and were confused about their whereabouts. 
 
 “It was bizarre,” said Frank Lomuscio, 53, who remained calm throughout the derailment and helped a woman who was having a panic attack in his car. 
 
 The pilot and last train cars did not derail, but the six cars in the middle did, FDNY Chief James Hall said at a press conference. The motorman and conductor are undergoing drug and alcohol tests. 
 
 An MTA worker at the scene said there was extensive damage underground, including 500 feet of damaged track, a broken rail and five bent crash columns. 
 
 At the time of the derailment, the train was on a long curve that leads to a downhill run that has a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. While it is still unclear whether excessive speed played a role in the derailment, some passengers said they felt like the train was moving faster than usual. 
 
 “It was definitely moving at a fast pace,” said Lomuscio, an attorney sitting in the second car. 
 
 Lomuscio said this was just “another Friday in the Big Apple” and said he gave up trying to get into work. He took the MTA up on their offer to honor commuter’s MetroCards for a handful of stations. 
 
 Despite all the chaos, Leonard said, he was impressed with the way passengers dealt with the emergency situation. 
 
 “Of course you have to give it up to the passengers,” he said at the press conference Friday afternoon. “They are New Yorkers, they kept their heads and did very well.” 
 
 Subway service in Queens on the E, F, M and R lines is suspended and the MTA recommends passengers use alternative routes and plan for major delays. Limited access to shuttle busses is also available for E and F train riders.
– If Hillary Clinton's going to win over New Yorkers before the state's April 19 primary, first she's got to prove she can master the NYC subway system. And she had a little trouble Thursday in the Bronx when, just like nearly every other Big Apple commuter has experienced, she tried to swipe her MetroCard to get through a turnstile and failed not once, but four times, reports BuzzFeed. The site has an animated GIF display of Clinton's persistence in all of her in-vain attempts, finally making it through on the fifth swipe. But as Politico points out, Bernie Sanders doesn't exactly have this in the bag, either. When he sat down with the New York Daily News on Friday, his interrogators asked him if he knew how to ride the subway. The Brooklyn native seemed confused as to what the reporter meant at first, then replied, "You get a token and you get in." (Tokens were discontinued in 2003.) When he was told he was wrong, he recovered with: "You jump over the turnstile." (Too bad Hillary wasn't on the subway when Improv Everywhere pulled off its latest prank.)