OMNY ( [OM-nee], short for One Metro New York) is a contactless fare payment system, currently being implemented for use on public transit in the New York metropolitan area. OMNY can currently be used to pay fares at all New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway stations and on all MTA buses; when completely rolled out, it will replace the MetroCard on Bee-Line buses, NICE buses, the Roosevelt Island Tram and AirTrain JFK. OMNY will also expand beyond the current scope of the MetroCard to include the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
The MetroCard, a magnetic stripe card, was first introduced in 1993 and was used to pay fares on MTA subways and buses, as well as on other networks such as the PATH train. Two limited contactless-payment trials were conducted around the New York City area in 2006 and in 2010. However, formal planning for a full replacement of the MetroCard did not start until 2016.
The OMNY system is designed by Cubic Transportation Systems, using technology licensed from Transport for London's Oyster card. The system accepts payments through contactless bank cards and mobile payments as well as physical OMNY cards. OMNY began its public rollout in May 2019, with the first readers installed at select subway stations and on buses in Staten Island. The Staten Island Railway received OMNY readers in December 2019, and rollout on the New York City Subway and on MTA buses was completed on December 31, 2020.
The MTA began offering OMNY contactless cards on October 1, 2021, and introduced fare capping on February 28, 2022. Reduced-fare customers were allowed to use OMNY starting in June 2022. Full deployment to other New York City-area transit systems is expected by 2023. The phasing out of the MetroCard—originally expected in 2023—has been delayed indefinitely.
View More On Wikipedia.org