The 2,200 station agents working in the subway system will leave the token booths for good on Thursday, March 30, the Metropolitan Transportation Auth

Subway station agents will no longer occupy token booths starting Thursday

submited by

Style Pass

2023-03-29 21:30:04

The 2,200 station agents working in the subway system will leave the token booths for good on Thursday, March 30, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced, transitioning into a new role more oriented towards direct customer service.

MTA New York City Transit president Rich Davey announced the long-awaited move on Tuesday. Instead of sitting behind plexiglass in the booths, station agents will adopt a more mobile function, roving their assigned stations to bring assistance to riders, instead of having riders take the initiative to come to the booth themselves.

“If you’re not a New Yorker, this can be a complicated system,” Davey said at a press conference at Fulton Center on Tuesday. “And so being able to provide that sort of hands-on and very direct customer service is gonna be important.”

The station agents will provide on-the-go assistance on navigating the complex subway system, and will also help riders in switching to and using OMNY, the tap-to-pay system replacing the MetroCard. Being on the move will also allow for more timely reporting of issues in stations, like broken digital screens or elevators.