MTA pushes back plans to phase out MetroCard: Officials

The MTA has pushed back its plans to replace the MetroCard until at least 2016 after rapidly changing technology threw a wrench into the previously expected tap-and-go system, according to official documents.

The agency had hoped to begin phasing out the MetroCard between 2012 and 2015.

The cards and their vending machines won't last past 2019, the MTA said, so the new system is planned to be implemented "within the next three to five years," according to MTA documents.

The new system will utilize "account-based contactless devices" that use "general purpose bank issued cards, smartphones and other new payment technologies," according to the MTA.