MetroCard has been a payment method for the New York City MTA’s subway and bus system since 1996. The iconic yellow cards are a part of New York’s culture as everyone uses one, including locals and tourists. Based on swipe-to-pay technology, the world has left the MetroCard behind in favor of tap-to-pay. That’s one reason the MTA announced the new OMNY system in 2019.
Transferring New York City’s mass-transit system to a new payment platform has been a massive project. The OMNY readers had to be installed at all subway stations and on every city bus. That was finished ahead of schedule, at the end of 2020. As it turns out, that was the easy part.
Everyone with a contactless credit or debit card or a device with a contactless payment system can use OMNY readers. According to the MTA, 40% of bus and subway rides are paid with OMNY.
There are several reasons the MetroCard hasn’t completely gone away:
- Programs for reduced fares are integrated into the MetroCard system. This includes 1/2 price rides for people over 65 or with qualifying disabilities.
- Low-income New Yorkers are eligible for reduced fares through Fare Fares NYC.
- Students receive MetroCards, which pays for daily rides to and from school.
- Weekly and Monthly tickets are not available through OMNY
- Delays integrating with other agencies which use MetroCards (JFK AirTrain, Roosevelt Island tram)
In addition, you only can buy an OMNY contactless card at a convenience store. To reload, you must register for an online account with a credit card or return to a store. Vending machines at stations still dispense MetroCards.
This summer the MTA will begin replacing MetroCard vending machines with ones that provide OMNY cards. The project was initially planned to be finished by 2023 but the date has been pushed back to the end of fall 2024.
That’s not the only part of the switch to OMNY which is behind schedule. The MTA planned to phase out the MetroCard by April 2024. That’s not happening according to amNY.
“We’re not setting a drop-dead date for pulling back on MetroCard,” said MTA Chair Janno Lieber at the Monday meeting. “We’re going to continue to work with every aspect of New York’s transit ridership to make sure it’s accepted, it becomes standard, and people get it, and they have full information. We’re not gonna pull the plug on MetroCard at any date that we’ve set at this time.”
According to the Daily News, the entire project is being reworked with a new management team and will not be finished until 2025.
“The first thing you’ve got to do when you have a project that’s not succeeding is be honest with yourself — that’s what we did,” Lieber said.
“The project schedule’s going to be torn apart, the staffing is torn apart and put back together, [as well as] the management structure,” he added.
It looks like it will be a while until the MetroCard is gone for good.
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