New York’s OMNY payment system surpasses 21 million taps

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority‘s (MTA) new OMNY fare payment system has now recorded more than 21 million taps, while more than 77 per cent of subway stations are now equipped with OMNY readers to enable customers to pay their fare by tapping with a contactless credit card or mobile device.

OMNY is now available at 365 subway stations, and all stations where fare payment is required in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island have been equipped with OMNY’s readers. Efforts to complete the installation of readers throughout Queens and Brooklyn remain ongoing and will continue until the end of the year when the rollout is set to be completed. OMNY readers have also been installed on all Manhattan and Staten Island buses, with installation on all Bronx buses expected to be finished in the coming weeks. The remaining buses in Brooklyn and Queens will have readers installed before year’s end.

The MTA has also launched a new customer education video featuring step-by-step guidance on how to use the contactless payment system from OMNY Executive and New York City Transit’s Al Putre. OMNY will replace the existing MetroCard system in 2023.

“The work to bring OMNY everywhere continues in earnest and we are extremely close to reaching that goal,” said Al Putre, OMNY Executive. “As full completion becomes imminent, it was imperative that we upped our efforts to educate our customers about precisely how to use this tap based system and that’s why we’re launching this new campaign.”

“The continued success of our OMNY rollout shows that when the MTA dedicates itself to a critical modernisation project, we can do great things,” said Sarah Feinberg, Interim New York City Transit President. “Even at the height of a global pandemic, Al and his team worked relentlessly to get this done and I am eager for our millions of customers to experience the sleek simplicity of this first-rate payment system as they continue to return to the system.”

OMNY use has grown steadily since the launch of its pilot phase in late May of 2019. Approximately 1.8 million unique bank cards or smart devices have been tapped at OMNY readers since then, with the market share of customers using OMNY increasing some 90 per cent over the last six months alone. Today, OMNY accounts for roughly 9.5 per cent of all fares paid at stations where the system is available. More than 115,000 OMNY taps are recorded each day. Just under 73 per cent of OMNY users pay with their digital wallet, while approximately 27 per cent pay using a contactless bank card. In total, some 21.3 million taps have been recorded.

“I am eager for our bus customers to be able to experience OMNY,” said Craig Cipriano, Acting Senior Vice President of Buses for MTA New York City Transit and President of the MTA Bus Company. “No more MetroCard glitch issues upon boarding. Just tap and go. Our Bronx bus customers are in for a real treat in the coming weeks when they’ll get to experience the ease of OMNY.”

“Contactless payment is especially helpful during these challenging times and I’m elated that all of our customers will get to use OMNY by the end of the year,” said Sarah Meyer, New York City Transit Chief Customer Officer. “New Yorkers have enthusiastically taken to using OMNY and the entire NYCT team is proud to be a part of this historic venture.”