Dolly Parton has her own amusement park. She’s also a Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter, businesswoman and philanthropist who helped fund research for the Moderna vaccine. But until now, she’s never had her name on a MetroCard.
That changed on Wednesday.
The MTA is releasing 50,000 limited-edition Dolly Parton MetroCards.
The cards are now available at Midtown vending machines at the 42nd Street-Grand Central and Times Square stations, as well as 34th Street-Herald Square and Penn Station. The MTA chose these stations “in the spirit of riders using the transit system and ‘working 9 to 5,’” a press release about the cards noted.
Dolly Parton MetroCards are now available for purchase at four Midtown vending machines.
Parton joins the elite club of musicians on MetroCards, which includes David Bowie and the Notorious B.I.G. Unlike the men's cards, however, these cards don’t feature her face.
The era of MetroCards is coming to a close. By the end of next year, the MTA expects to phase out MetroCards. Already, 37% of riders use OMNY, according to details in the MTA’s October board meeting.
It remains to be seen if the purple Dolly cards – which feature the singer’s signature, a smattering of rhinestones and a butterfly – will fetch sky-high prices on resale websites like the Notorious B.I.G.’s cards, or if fans will wait in line for hours pumping MetroCard machines hoping to get lucky, like when the Bowie cards came out.
The Dolly Parton MetroCards are part of an ad campaign to mark the release of her new greatest hits album.
