How much does a 30-day unlimited MetroCard cost in New York?
Guess before you scroll — the answer is below
The answer
$132
A 30-day unlimited pass costs $132, which works out cheaper than a single daily commute at $2.90 each way after about 23 round trips. The MTA now applies the same cap automatically to riders paying by tap, so the physical card is on its way out.
How to get close to this number
Work from the break-even. The explanation gives the single fare and the pass price, so dividing one by the other tells you how many trips make the pass worthwhile — about twenty-three round trips, which is roughly a working month. Transit passes are almost always priced to break even at a commuter's usage.
That pricing is deliberate: it makes the pass worth buying for anyone who commutes and not worth buying for anyone who does not, which sorts riders into the right product without the agency having to ask. Break-even pricing is how a transport authority segments its market with a single number.
The fare-capping detail is what makes the physical pass obsolete: the same cap now applies automatically to riders paying by contactless tap. When a system can count your trips and charge you the lower of the two prices, the product distinction disappears — and with it the need to predict your own travel a month in advance.
Where this number comes from
| Source | Metropolitan Transportation Authority |
|---|---|
| Figure refers to | 2024 |
| Last checked | |
| Unit | dollars |
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