OMNY, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) contactless fare payment system, is expanding to all Manhattan subway stations in four boroughs by the end of this month.
The news comes on the heels of the OMNY system reaching the milestone of 10 million taps in the past week, far surpassing expectations and showing accelerating growth, according to MTA.
This month's bus activation will put OMNY on more than 600 buses on more than 30 routes. The expansion to Manhattan local buses represents an increase in points where it’s possible to use OMNY to make free transfers between subways and buses, which is made fast and easy by the contactless technology.
“This is another major milestone in the transformation of the NYC bus system,” said Craig Cipriano, acting senior vice president of Buses for MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) and president of the MTA Bus Company. “As we work hard expanding bus priority and redesigning our bus system throughout the city, modernized fare payment is a key piece of how we can speed up buses and bring customers to our system.”
“The OMNY rollout remains on time and we aren’t resting on our laurels. We continue to move full speed ahead, having just exceeded 10 million taps and expecting to rapidly surpass that pace in the weeks and months to come,” said Al Putre, OMNY executive. “This month, everyone from daily Manhattan bus riders to die-hard Mets fans will get to experience the magic of OMNY. No more waiting in lines at MetroCard machines. Just tap your smart phone, wearable device or contactless credit or debit card and go.”
While the installation of OMNY readers and equipment will continue throughout the month, OMNY will be activated on buses across the whole borough simultaneously at the end of the month. This expansion to Manhattan buses is hoped to attract new ridership by allowing visitors to New York City and anyone who doesn’t normally carry a MetroCard to hop on a bus with a spontaneity that wasn't possible before, says MTA.
After first launching on May 31, 2019, OMNY's first five million taps were recorded over 31 weeks, while the second five million were recorded in only eight weeks, showing an acceleration in the growth and popularity of the system. The OMNY system has recorded roughly three million taps in the month of February alone. MTA says customers from 130 countries outside the U.S. and every single continent other than Antarctica have already used the system. In the last week of February, the system recorded its first set of weekdays with over 150,000 taps per day.
On the subway, more than 200 subway stations are expected to have OMNY by month’s end. Customers along the 5 Subway line starting at Morris Park and all the way to the end of the line at Eastchester-Dyre Av. will be the first to get OMNY in March. After the completion of 5 Subway line work, OMNY will be installed along the 2 Subway and 3 Subway lines in Harlem, lower Manhattan and parts of downtown Brooklyn. This expansion will provide a more complete network for 2 Subway and 3 Subway riders, as large swaths of those lines are already equipped with OMNY readers.
OMNY will also be enabled at stations on the A Subway and C Subway lines in Brooklyn, from Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Euclid Av, providing customers with key connections to stations on the G Subway, J Subway, Z Subway and L Subway in the process. Toward the end of the month, two key stations along the 7 Subway line will also get OMNY in Queens. Both Mets-Willets Point and Flushing Main St. are expected to be ready just in time for Mets Opening Day at Citi Field, further encouraging the use of mass transit to large events by visitors who may not normally carry MetroCards.
