IND West 4th Street station interior: turnstiles and token booth (center background) at the West 3rd Street entrance. The turnstiles shown are modern; the original ones had coin slots and the turnstile itself (the part the turns) was horizontal and made of wood. The subway fare was 5 cents until 1948, payable by putting a nickel into the slot. From 1948 to 1953, dimes were used. After that came a series of different subway tokens as the fare went up and up. Tokens were gradually phased out in favor of the Metrocard between 1992 and 2003, which itself will eventually be phased out in favor of contactless "smart" phones and/or cards.