In an effort to expedite the long-delayed implementation of the tap-and-go payment system, low-income New Yorkers, retired people, and students will soon receive a free or subsidized OMNY card in place of a MetroCard.
According to MTA Chair Janno Lieber, expanding OMNY this year to include discounted-fares recipients in New York, including seniors, paratransit users, and low-income citizens participating in the Fair Fares program, is a significant step toward integrating the payment system into the daily commuting routine.
Students will be among the first groups to obtain OMNY cards this autumn. Additionally, pupils in the 2025–2026 academic year will have the option of utilizing a real OMNY card or putting their free OMNY excursions onto their cellphones.
“Kids who are going through the gate, they sometimes struggle to find their MetroCard, but they know where their phone is,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber stated Monday. “We got to get that population, which is one of our key populations, we got to get them onto OMNY soon.”
The MetroCard’s usage was prolonged indefinitely due to the pandemic and delays in the OMNY implementation, despite the MTA’s original plan to phase it out completely by the spring of 2024. Currently, OMNY is used by fewer than half of New Yorkers who utilize transportation.
Leading MTA officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the gradual transition to OMNY on Monday, criticizing inadequate branding, the business that created the system, and the corporations that manage pre-tax commuter perks. The MTA board is currently thinking about terminating its contract with Cubic Transportation Systems, the company that created OMNY, and giving the go-ahead to Scheidt & Bachmann and Masabi, the firms who created the agency’s Train Time app.
If the plan is implemented, users will be able to purchase commuter train tickets as well as pay for bus and subway fares.
