The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to stop issuing and refilling its ubiquitous orange and blue MetroCards at the end of the year, relying on its tap-and-go OMNY system for fare payment in the subway and on city buses, transit officials told Crain’s.
Riders with existing MetroCards will be able to use them into 2026, the MTA says, and will have two years from the listed expiration date to transfer funds to an OMNY card or be reimbursed.
Instead of a MetroCard swipe, riders can pay the $2.90 fare through the OMNY system by tapping their phone at a turnstyle using digital wallet apps, such as Apple and Google pay, with contactless bank cards or by using black and white OMNY cards, which can be refilled online or at vending machines in the subway system or thousands of retail locations.
The authority says the switch will save more than $20 million per year in maintenance and distribution costs for MetroCard machines, and opens the door for the MTA to offer more discounts and promotions through OMNY, such as a loyalty program.
“Why are we doing all of this? The answer is simple, making it easier to pay the fare and making it more affordable means more for paying customers,” MTA board chair and CEO Janno Lieber said at a Crain’s event on Wednesday morning. “Contactless fare payment is not only faster and more convenient, it’s going to allow us to do more, much more with discounts and promotions. It’s a much more dynamic system.”
Transit workers have installed the OMNY system at all 472 subway stations and on the city’s bus fleet, and plan to complete the installation of OMNY vending machines at all of the city’s subway stations by the fall.
Customers can transfer funds or request a refund by visiting one of the MTA’s 15 customer service centers in the subway, visiting the MTA’s headquarters at 3 Stone Street or visiting an MTA mobile van and bus location.
The MTA expects the switch to save riders roughly $40 million annually, since many straphangers underutilize their pre-paid weekly or monthly MetroCards, which cost $34 for seven-days or $132 for 30-days. The OMNY system is structured so riders do not pay more than $34 in a week (or $17 for reduced fare customers), about 12 trips. Once a rider hits that threshold, they automatically receive unlimited rides for the remainder of the seven-day period.
The MTA’s roll out of the OMNY system is years delayed. In 2017, Manhattan-based contractor Cubic inked a $573 million contract with the MTA to develop the contactless fare payment system, with an October 2020 deadline to widely launch OMNY on the city’s subway and buses.
Riders have largely embraced the OMNY system (since its initial launch at a handful of subway stations and bus lines in May 2019) with roughly 65% of all daily riders using the tap-and-go technology. The fare cap is reached nearly one million times every month and provides customers with roughly $8 million in free trips each month, according to the MTA. Reduced-Fare and Access-A-Ride OMNY cards began to be mailed out to enrolled riders as of late 2024.
As of last spring, Cubic’s OMNY contract with the MTA had grown to more than $700 million to build out the system, which the MTA will maintain, authority records show. Separately, the MTA is paying London-based company Masabi $60 million to run the popular TrainTime app for commuter rail and to integrate some of the OMNY system’s features for those riders.
