There's, ahem, a lot of stuff going on internally at the MTA today—but the trains must keep running, and the promotions must keep being rolled out. To that end, there's a particularly fun promo that is sure to engage you: starting today at certain stations, you can pick up a limited edition MetroCard celebrating the start of Star Trek: Picard, featuring the face of the one-and-only Jean-Luc Picard, a.k.a. Patrick Stewart.
There are actually two limited edition cards being released: one with Picard's face on the front and his family’s vineyard on the back; and one featuring Picard’s dog, named (of course) Number One, on the front with several planets on the back.
The cards will be available starting today, to mark the premiere of the show on CBS All Access, through February 16th, at six particular stations in Manhattan: 14th Street and Seventh Avenue (1/2/3), 28th Street and Seventh Avenue (1), 57th Street and Sixth Avenue (F), 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue (7), 14th Street at Union Square (4/5/6/L/N/Q/R/W), and 28th Street and Broadway (R/W).
The MTA adds that there will be 350,000 double-sided cards available over the next three weeks. Note: the Picard cards will only be available from the vending machines at those six stations, and the Number One cards will only be available from the booths at those stations.
And here is perhaps the best part of the whole thing: if you connect those six stations on the subway map, you can see the outline of the Starfleet insignia. The only thing that could possibly make this better is if they had called them MetroPicards.
Also: from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Times Square station, “brand ambassadors” for the show will be handing out Star Trek: Picard posters to fans who post selfies with the insignia using the hashtag #PicardDelta on social media.
The MTA has previously collaborated on other special edition MetroCards, including ones for Game Of Thrones, Paul McCartney, Wu-Tang Clan, and David Bowie. Other popular special edition MetroCards have commemorated the return of Twin Peaks, Supreme collectibles, and Barbara Kruger's side hustle. Last week, they also announced an ad buy from Comedy Central to promote Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, which featured Awkwafina reading train announcements on the 7 line for a week (the rollout also included free $5 MetroCards).
You can check out a trailer for the show below—it's been getting pretty good reviews, with the Times calling it "a peak-TV experience, and it immediately feels — on the surface, at least — as if it could be the franchise’s best small-screen offering." And if Stewart has his way, Whoopi Goldberg might reprise her role as Guinan in the (already renewed) second season.
