It happens maybe in one case or twice in a lifetime: the MTA changes the fashion nosotros pay for the metropolis's transit system.

Later on a decades-long run, MetroCard's time is coming to an terminate and riders will be moving to a new contactless payment method called OMNY.

Currently, 23% of all subway and bus riders have migrated to the new organization, the MTA said. And by 2024, everyone will have to switch over equally the MetroCard is fully phased out.

Below, y'all'll find an explainer to help you lot get an early on adopter. Nosotros'll exist updating this as new data becomes available and equally changes occur. Have a question that's not answered here? Send usa an email at tips@gothamist.com, using the subject line: OMNY.

WHEN Exercise I HAVE TO First USING OMNY?

While you can utilise OMNY now (it began rolling out in 2019), it won't be mandatory until sometime in 2024. At that point, your MetroCard will become a relic, just like the token before information technology.

WILL OMNY WORK AT EVERY STATION?

Yes. Scanners are currently installed and operating at all subway stations and on all MTA-operated buses.

IS In that location A Menu, IS IT ON MY PHONE, DO I Need TO SWIPE SOMETHING?

Say bye to the swipe, and hi to tap-and-go.

At that place are three payment options:

  • Your smart phone or smart watch: you tin pay via your telephone'due south digital wallet (via Google or Apple Pay).
  • Credit/debit menu with microchip: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Observe, UnionPay, and JCB are all currently accepted.
  • Reloadable, prepaid OMNY carte du jour: Yous tin buy a prepaid OMNY card at retail locations on this map. Note: OMNY cards are $5 each before fares are added.

IS There AN APP?

In that location is no OMNY app nevertheless, but the MTA is currently projecting to launch one sometime in 2023.

IF I USE A RELOADABLE OMNY CARD, HOW LONG IS THAT Carte GOOD FOR?

The MTA said it wants to get out of the business of selling physical cards that elapse after xviii months, which is the expiration time for MetroCards. The reloadable OMNY cards are thicker and will elapse afterward seven years.

WHAT NEW FEATURES ARE COMING TO OMNY IN 2022?

Co-ordinate to the MTA, the OMNY features rolling out in 2022 (in improver to fare capping — run into below) include expanded payment features, paratransit Access-a-Ride ID European union Card, concern-to-business portal for bulk sales, Reduced Fare Card, Mobile Sales Vans, OMNY vending machines, unmarried ride tickets, and cash treatment.

TELL ME More Most THE REDUCED FARE, DOES THAT INCLUDE SENIORS?

Aye. And the fare reduction would be the aforementioned as it is at present with MetroCard. And so you will be paying the same rates. This will happen this year, but the details and rollout date are still TBD, so keep using your MetroCard for now.

When the MTA provides more than information, we will update.

A display of gift cards, for Panera Bread and other brands, plus an open OMNY package on a retail display carousel

At a Walgreens in downtown Brooklyn

arrow

At a Walgreens in downtown Brooklyn

Stephen Nessen / Gothamist

GETTING A Physical CARD AND PAYING WITH Greenbacks IS HARDER AND LESS CONVENIENT. Will Information technology EVER BECOME EASIER?

The MTA has a map online of retail locations, but not all stores have been putting the cards on brandish. Information technology has been an issue that Sarah Meyer, MTA main customer officeholder, confirmed with Gothamist.

CVS said information technology plans to accept OMNY cards available in stores in April 2022.

The MTA said it is also testing vending machines that will exist placed in subway stations to sell reusable OMNY and single-use OMNY cards. They said the agency was aiming to have those set up past October 2022.

ARE THERE RIDE BUNDLES OR IS Information technology PAY-PER-RIDE? IS At that place OMNY MATH, LIKE THERE WAS WITH METROCARDS?

Sort of! There will be fare capping, which means subsequently a rider spends $33, or 12 rides over a vii-24-hour interval flow, every trip thereafter during that period is gratuitous. This is the equivalent of a weekly unlimited MetroCard that you don't take to pay for up forepart.

The MTA is rolling out a iv-calendar month fare capping pilot on Feb. 28, 2022. This volition give riders using OMNY a weekly unlimited menu later on taking 12 trips in a single Monday-to-Sunday week.

As for a monthly version, the MTA said information technology will evaluate customer response during the pilot and consider similar enhancements.

Note: Fare capping is applied automatically, whether you utilize your own bank card, mobile device or OMNY menu.

OMNY reader on a bus

OMNY reader on a bus.

arrow

OMNY reader on a charabanc.

MTA New York Metropolis Transit / Marc A. Hermann

ARE THERE Gratis TRANSFERS?

Aye. Yet, the MTA noted that y'all must use the same payment method throughout each private trip to qualify.

"If yous tap your card to ride the subway, yous must tap that same card to obtain your complimentary transfer to a local bus," the MTA said in a statement. "You cannot switch betwixt your card and other payment methods and still obtain your free transfer."

The transfer window will remain at two hours.

CAN I TAP-AND-Get ANOTHER RIDER THROUGH?

The MTA said the same pass-back rules used with MetroCards apply to OMNY too.

You can tap upward to four times within an hour with your phone, carte, or OMNY card. Meaning you lot can tap yourself, and three others, as well. And so if you lot are a family unit of v or more than with but 1 device or carte du jour, y'all will need to acquire some other.

Note: Only the start of the four taps counts as the estimator to 12+ for unlimited weekly conversion on OMNY.

Tin can I ADD MY Commuter Do good Carte du jour?

The MTA recommended contacting the company that issues your commuter do good card to ask for a card with an NFC flake. Most companies will transport you lot i. If yours does not, in that location is a workaround — you tin add the commuter benefit carte du jour to your smartphone's wallet. Once the card is in your phone, you never need to pull the concrete card out once more. When yous pull up to an OMNY reader just bring your phone shut to the reader, and it will automatically appear and deduct the cost of the trip.

WHAT IF MY Phone DIES?

Welp, you may desire to get a portable charger in the era of OMNY, considering if your phone dies and yous are using your phone to pay, then information technology's not going to piece of work. You volition take to employ something else similar a debit/credit card, or a physical OMNY menu.

If your telephone dies in the middle of your trip and you need to transfer, alert the MTA bus operator or subway station booth attendant know and they may let yous through.

Note: While subway stations do not take charging stations, new buses take charging ports.

IS THE MTA STORING MY DATA AND TRACKING ME?

A client can use OMNY anonymously and in that case there will be no personal data collection, the MTA told us this week. Nonetheless, if you choose to make an online account, OMNY's website will collect data, and the OMNY Privacy Policy states that information includes "proper noun, age, photo, email address, password, mailing accost, phone number, payment data, geolocation data," and more.

CAN I TRACK MYSELF?

Aye. You can register for an OMNY account, where yous'll exist able to access a personalized dashboard that will feature your activity.

I'M IN A HURRY, WILL THIS Salvage ME TIME?

Using a tap-and-become payment method is faster, co-ordinate to the MTA, especially when you have a bent MetroCard or if the turnstile reader is dirty. No more of this:

WHAT DOES OMNY Correspond?

1 Metro New York

WHY IS THE MTA MOVING TO OMNY, ANYWAY?

The MetroCard is almost 30 years old and it's express to the subway and buses. With OMNY, the MTA will exist able to have ane payment system across all of its transit divisions: the subway, buses, driver track and Access-a-Ride.

The MTA has actually been thinking of moving to a smart carte-based system like OMNY since 2004. Other subway systems accept had smart carte engineering science for decades. S Korea rolled out U-Pass in 1995; Hong Kong launched the Octopus bill of fare in 1997; London introduced the Oyster card in 2003; and Chicago began transitioning to Ventra in 2013.

According to the MTA, sometime MTA Chairman Jay Walder — informed by his feel in London as head of Ship for London — brought the thought to the table. TfL's Oyster is the equivalent of the OMNY card. Walder proposed the switch, in part, to alter customer behavior, get them to employ their own devices and reduce reliance on a transit-issued bill of fare.

WHEN METROCARD ROLLED OUT, THE MTA CREATED A MASCOT NAMED CARDVAARK — Volition THERE BE AN OMNY MASCOT?

There is not an officially appear mascot, but we would similar to remind the MTA that OMNYVAARK is still on the tabular array. Created in 2020 by Mattie Lubchansky for Gothamist.

An illustration of OMNYvaark, an updated version of Cardvaark

Meet OMNYvaark, an updated version of Cardvaark

arrow

WHAT ELSE DO I Need TO KNOW?

When information technology comes to MTA payment methods, there'southward a rich history. We've had newspaper tickets, tokens, cards, and each time New Yorkers had a fresh new reaction to the modify. So if you demand some topical, know-it-all party chat as OMNY begins to take over, read our Cursory History Of How New Yorkers Take Paid For The Subway.

Boosted reporting by Stephen Nessen