I imagine most tourists are using the buses as a sight-seeing excursion and are relying on the driver for information as much as travel.
Next time you’re in NYC check out the new OMNY system. You can still buy a Metrocard the old fashioned way, including unlimited, but OMNY works with your phone’s tap-to-pay system and adjusts the billing based on frequency of the ride. So if you ride more than 12 times in a 7-day span, it only bills you for the Unlimited fare, but just regular fare if you don’t hit that threshold. Transfers are automatically included and it recognizes transfers from one system to the next (ie bus to subway). I haven’t lived there in a while, so it’s very nice not to have to stand in line and mess with the Metrocard kiosks to reload them and check balances. I also probably have about $20 in Metrocards laying around from various trips to the city that I’ll never get back.
ETA: Oh! And you don’t have to pay the $1 fee for the physical card.
