Authority’s Popular Contactless Payment System Continues to Gain Increased Share of Overall Fare Payments
OMNY to Replace MetroCard Completely in 2023
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that OMNY, the Authority’s contactless fare payment system that will replace the MetroCard within two years, recently surpassed 100 million taps. The figure marks an additional 25 million OMNY payments in the last two months alone. OMNY, or One Metro New York, debuted to the public just over two years ago in a pilot phase at 19 subway stations and on Staten Island buses. The rollout of the contactless system was completed in December of 2020, with all 472 subway stations and the entirety of the MTA’s 5800 bus fleet now equipped with approximately 15,000 OMNY readers.
The OMNY readers process customer payments from smartphones, contactless bank cards, and wearable devices. In recent weeks, the system has recorded more than 600,000 taps a day. The nearly 17 million OMNY taps in June nearly tripled the number of taps from January (6.1 million). Customers from 153 countries have now paid their fare using OMNY. Nearly 80% of OMNY taps came on the subway, the other fifth of taps largely coming on buses, and a remaining fraction on Staten Island Railway.
"OMNY’s continued success shows that when you embrace new technologies, great things can happen,” said Sarah Feinberg, Interim President, New York City Transit. "As we approach the final years of the MetroCard, I encourage customers to begin moving over to OMNY - they’ll find it fast and convenient. OMNY has already become a mainstay in the system and I’m excited for even more of our customers to begin paying their fare with our state-of-the-art contactless payment system.”
“Besides the obvious benefits a contactless fare payment system brings to a post-COVID New York, the implementation of OMNY is also a significant step forward when it comes to payment technology in the city,” said Demetrius Crichlow, Acting Senior Vice President for Subways, New York City Transit. “We are not losing sight of the need to drive progress, and we remain as dedicated as ever to improving the customer experience.”
“It’s immensely gratifying to see how New Yorkers have embraced OMNY,” said Sarah Meyer, MTA Chief Customer Officer. “It’s extraordinary to think of how much success we’ve had even in spite of the pandemic. 100 million taps is an incredible milestone--and that’s just from riders using smart phones, other smart devices, and chip-enabled credit cards. The next step is to introduce OMNY cards at retail locations citywide before phasing out the MetroCard in 2023.”
"Since day one, nothing has been able to stop the OMNY team from ensuring that this world class payments system is a success," said Wayne Lydon, Director, MTA Fare Payment Programs. "We continue to shatter records as more and more New Yorkers and visitors to the city experience the ease and simplicity of paying with OMNY. Two years ago, contactless was the future of transit payments. Now, OMNY is very much the desired mode for hundreds of thousands as customers return to our subways and buses. We remain relentlessly focused on the next phases of this project, which includes the introduction of an OMNY card, so we can bring OMNY to all of our customers.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT MTA FARE PAYMENTS AND OMNY:
- The MetroCard was first tested in the system in 1993, debuting to the greater public in January 1994. All buses began accepting it by the end of 1995 and all turnstiles were MetroCard-enabled by May 1997. Tokens were sold until April 2003. Token acceptance was discontinued that May in subway stations and that December on buses.
- OMNY readers accept contactless cards from payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, as well as digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and Fitbit Pay.
- The MTA will begin to install new vending machines at locations throughout the system later this year.
- OMNY will exist alongside MetroCard until 2023 at which point it will replace MetroCard completely.
- Purchasing your fare with cash will always be an option. Additional information about OMNY is available at OMNY.info