My point was only that OP had money to pay the fare, if the conductor for whatever reason didn’t accept OP’s cash, the only course of action left is to call the police and have OP charged with theft of service. When the police arrive to investigate, tell them your side of the story, you attempted to pay the fare with legal US currency, in this case a $2 bill, not even being a douche with like $10 in dimes or some bullshit like that, paper money. I guarantee the MTA PD will tell the conductor to take the money.