MTA Rolls out OMNY, Riders Can Now Pay without Touching Anything

By Yehudit Garmaise   All the bus and subway stations in the city now allow New Yorkers to pay their fares without touching anything: a great innovation in the middle of a pandemic.

    Coming a long way from the tokens that were replaced in the mid-1990s, MTA’s turnstiles and busses have been equipped with screens that allow passengers to pay their fares by holding up their credit cards, smart phones, or contactless cards that will be available for sale at retail drug outlets and vending machines in the middle of 2021.

    MTA passengers can use their smartphones to pay for fares by using the mobile wallet application Apple Pay. Although MTA passengers can still swipe their MetroCards, the cards are set to be phased out by 2023.

   “Tap and go means no more swipes, no more losing your MetroCard,” Interim Transit President Sarah Feinberg said Thursday. “Just bring your own device and you can enter the system with ease.”

    The MTA’s new payment system, which is called OMNY, which stands for One Metro New York, will eventually combine fare payments and ticketing for all of the city’s subways.

 

(Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit)