By Scott Etkin
MetroCards have been a mainstay of life in New York City for the last 30 years. But these iconic yellow plastic rectangles are going the way of the token (subway tokens were phased out in 2003). By the end of this year, MetroCards will no longer be sold, the MTA announced, and their use is expected to be phased out completely in 2026.
Approximately 65% of transit system riders are already using OMNY, the payment method that’s replacing MetroCards. OMNY, which launched in 2019, allows you to pay your subway or bus fare directly from your credit or debit card, or from the digital version of the card that you can store on your smartphone (or smartwatch).
Nostalgia for New York City subway history runs deep, and some riders might resist the change to a new form of payment. But there are some benefits to using OMNY instead of MetroCards. The primary one is financial. While trips cost the same with either option, unlike MetroCards, all OMNY payments are capped at $34 within a seven-day period. This means that your 13th ride of the week (and each subsequent one) will be free of charge. You do not need to pre-pay for a monthly or weekly plan – these savings are applied automatically.
Seniors, students, and people with disabilities who get reduced fare trips with MetroCards are also eligible to receive benefits with OMNY. If you qualify for discounted rides, you can apply for them online or visit an MTA Customer Service Center (the closest one to the UWS is at Times Square).
The MTA also expects to save $20 million annually by switching to one payment method.
For riders who prefer not to use their smartphone or credit/debit card to pay, OMNY cards are available for purchase for $1 and can be loaded up similarly to today’s MetroCards. All 1/2/3 subway stations on the Upper West Side have OMNY vending machines. B/C stops on the UWS don’t have them yet, but all stations in the system are expected to have the machines as of this fall.
A map of where OMNY cards can also be purchased at chain stores, such as Walgreens, CVS, and 7-Eleven, and some bodegas and independent pharmacies, is available – HERE. The cards can also be reloaded online when you create an account and link it to your card.
In general, OMNY mimics the way MetroCards work. When you transfer between a train and bus, OMNY awards you the free ride, the same as if you were using a MetroCard.
But there are some differences. OMNY isn’t compatible with the ticket machines that accept payment for Select Bus Service trips while you wait at the bus stop. Riders can use OMNY after boarding the bus instead – as they would on non-select service buses. These kiosks are expected to be removed in the future.
When, exactly, MetroCards will no longer be accepted is still an open question. The local NBC channel reported that the deadline could be in June 2026 – at the earliest. Before then, riders can trade in MetroCards with value on them for an OMNY card at an MTA Customer Service Center. Remaining MetroCard balances will be eligible for transfer or reimbursement two years from the expiration date on the MetroCard.
Another open question is what effect the full transition to OMNY might have, if any, on fare evasion. The MTA’s extensive report on fare evasion, published in 2023, notes that OMNY makes it easier to check if riders have paid for their ride.
But OMNY is not mentioned in the MTA’s recent announcement that subway fare evasion is down 30% since the second quarter of 2024. The trend is largely driven by reinforcing turnstiles to make them harder to jump or pull back, delaying the opening of emergency exit doors from the outside, and hiring staff to monitor the gates.
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If the MTA issues you a physical OMNY card to replace a reduced fare (senior citizen) MetroCard, they have not yet figured out how you can then have your reduced-fare OMNY card on a cell phone. You have to carry the physical card to get the reduced fare.
Since the MTA automatically sent out replacement OMNY cards, this may leave many seniors without the ability to use their phones to access buses and subways.
Yes, they have figured it out. You can register for an online OMNY account that reflects your reduced-fare status, then add a credit/debit card to your online “wallet” in the account. Last, make that card your default option for transportation on your phone. I know it works, because I have done it myself.
Unfortunately it isn’t all that simple. You have to phone into OMNY customer service to select which payment method is designated for reduced fare. And if you need to change the designation you have to phone in again. Further, in order to be able to select a new card you first have to add the physical card number to your online wallet and then tap your mobile phone once at full fare in order for the new mobile payment method to appear on your account. That makes the mobile version of the card appear in your wallet where you can then phone in to have it selected.
Far from an automated system. And I had to do this several times when my bank re-issued my cards with new account numbers due to fraudeulent use by others.
Incorrect. When OMNI first came out I set it up on my phone to replace the physical senior reduced fare card. No problem at all.
I have an iphone and you are not able to add it to the wallet so if you have an iphone you need to use the actual card.
Can’t you just use your credit card the same way?
Yes it’s the same exact thing. There’s no reason someone who has a credit or debit card should pay a buck for an OMNI card they don’t need:
https://www.mta.info/fares-tolls/subway-bus/tap-and-go
If you qualify for discounted rides, you can apply in person or by mail. The online application is not currently available.
That’s awful! Why are they making this change!? Can you imagine how many ‘Seniors’ are going to be totally baffled by this change! Disgraceful. Thanks MTA. …..
My husband is a senior and I’m not and we each have our own metrocard and share the same credit card to refill. I’m not seeing a lot of discussion on sharing a credit card. Just that an Omni online account is tied to a credit card (it’s effectively your user account #), so you need to use a physical omnicard and can’t refill it online if you share a payment method. This means refilling at a machine and they’re not all that common yet. Having just one in a station may not be reliable, judging by how often the other ones break down. Plus I’ve heard all kinds of problems with double-charging transfers, where they’re supposed to reimburse for the transfer but actually don’t do it. This is rarely a problem with metrocards. I’m normally an early adopter of tech but I will likely hold out as long as I can on this one. Convince me otherwise, please.
Two different people can NOT use the same credit card. My wife needed to use a separate card for her reduced fare Omni. Before this we were able to use the same credit card, not now. This is NOT a problem, assuming you have more than one card
You don’t need an OMNY card or account at all–you can just use your credit card(/phone/watch) to tap in. There’s no “one person, one credit card; one credit card, one person”-type restriction. Now, if your husband wants to use the senior reduced fare and you want to be cautious not to use a benefit you’re not entitled to, then it’s probably worth it for him to register for an OMNY account as Steven describes above, using one card, while you use another (which you don’t have to register until it’s your time for a senior fare). But then neither of you have to worry about refilling anything. It’s just tap and go (and pay your credit cards at the end of the month, of course!).
You can just tap your credit card at the turnstile, no?
Yes you can. You can still upload that card onto an OMNY account.
My daughter’s school OMNY card stops working every couple months and the school has to replace it, I wonder if they’re fixing this issue?
They use a paper pass which does not hold up as good as the plastic ones. One idea is that the MTA could give students plastic OMNY passes that have their photo ID and also function as student ID’s as well. MTA employees as it is are given photo ID metrocards that function as timecards.
What happened to the monthly card??
There isn’t one anymore – instead, you get the automatic discount/cap once you take the requisite number of rides within the same period. So no need for a monthly card.
What will happen to people who use the monthly card? There is two days short .
How? With a monthly card, you pay for the month in advance. With Omni, all OMNY payments are capped at $34 within a seven-day period. This means that your 13th ride of the week (and each subsequent one) will be free of charge.
I think you wind up the same (possibly better), but if you see a way that differs, a friend who works for the MTA promises me they’ll get that example to their colleagues who designed this.
Just fyi — I boarded one bus recently which couldn’t read my OMNY card. Had to get off the bus. (I wouldn’t pay with a credit card.) Next bus read my card just fine. Go figure, as my mother-in-law used to say. Make sure you have loose change anyway.
Something similar happened to me, but it was just that I did not have enough on my card. I checked my account, added money and immediately I was able to use it.
I’ve also tapped my credit card and it also has worked. Great system!
Why did you get off the bus? It was their error, not yours!
You should have just stayed on the bus. You made a good faith effort and nobody cares if you pay except you.
OMNY may raise some additional privacy concerns, but it’s a big benefit for tourists, who don’t have to buy a card but can just use their own phone’s pay method, and thus should help make the experience in the tourist-heavy stations smoother for us all (neither MetroCard lines nor “endless reswiping” jams at the turnstile itself).
I’m not actually sure it raises more privacy concerns than the existing situation. I think they can track you if you buy a metro card with a credit card. But I’ve wondered about that.
One question I have is when will MTA restore the trip history on the omny.info website?
The OMNY account auto-refill function is very handy, especially if you are not a regular rider who can count on being at a stop with an OMNY machine. The communication about your account and activity by text and email is clear and thorough. You can set the refill minimum – say, at $3 so you know your card will never get below at least one ride – and the amount – say$17 because you are an infrequent rider and never want to have more than $20 reserved in an OMNY card. If I move out of town I hope I can keep it. A life goal is to enjoy reduced senior fares. I remember how much my parents loved them!
One thing to mention is that it is more expensive if you would normally get a monthly and use the card more than 11 times. The monthly MTA card is about $132 but with the weekly $34 max, you are paying about $153 so you are sorta paying about $20 more a month. You also don’t seem to be able to add it to Apple Wallet so you have to manually pull out the card and wave over the reader.
Or just use a credit card. People seem to be confused by the existence of the actual OMNY physical card. You don’t need to use the physical card at all. It’s for people who don’t have credit or debit cards or who have reason not to use them.
Huge difference is OMNY doesn’t update the balance remaining as you enter the Transit system like. Metro cards, major inconvenience
I heard it does not have 30 day purchase, how is this going to work for me?? My money is taken from check pre taxed and I load it to my metrocard every month, I was told their is no 30 days with OMNY…
The biggest problem people are noting is that the 30-day will no longer be available and pay as you go is more expensive even with the weekly cap. So if I were you, I’d hold off. Otherwise, you can have your employer reload a prepaid mastercard instead of issuing a 30-day pass to you. I telecommute a lot so I use mine to just refill $amounts randomly as I need to on a regular metrocard and imagine the same can be done to fill a physical omnycard. Or you can just use that same credit card to tap and pay as you go without a physical omnycard. The bonus with the prepaid credit card is that you can use it to purchase tickets pre-tax for our regional trains too.
Those of us who continue using Metro cards are not doing it for nostalgia; we’re doing it because we pay $132 for a 30 day pass, which is 10% less per day than ,$34 for 7 days.
I saw the following issue reported some time ago and wonder whether it has been ‘fixed’.
With OMNY (unlike MetroCard) there are no paper transfers for Select buses.
In the reported incident, a passenger who had used OMNY was required to open her account on her phone to prove to an inspector who had boarded the bus that she had paid the fare that allowed her a ‘free transfer’.
Checking for OMNY Taps:
On buses, inspectors may ask passengers to tap their OMNY cards on “their device” to confirm payment, especially if the passenger has already passed the fare cap.
Inspectors are supposed to have a deviceto check payment.
OMNI is less effective and more expensive in comparison to the unlimited rides Metro Card.
A machine swallowed my half fare metro card while I was refilling it monthly unlimited and it didn’t give back the card and I lost the money and they sent me in the mail RF reduced fare OMNY card I asked them to send me another metro card they said I have already a omny card which I never asked for and therefore they said I can’t go back to a metro card , as for the money I lost $66I sent in the application and they didn’t send me a compensation check
OMNY is a City Government scheme to take away all the benefits from the metro card and to make money off you
A half fare metro card has ur picture ID on it so you can get discount fare on Metro North and LIRR but not OMNY which doesn’t have ur picture and it only says RF reduced fare , the metro north doesn’t accept it and asks you to pay the full fare when ur on the train
With a disability metro card you have unlimited monthly for like $66 . With a metro card you have express bus unlimited weekly . But not omny
the catch is that the omny card doesn’t tell you how much money you have left on it, the way the metrocard does
You can log on to omny.info, create an account, register the card and it will tell you.
Thanks!!!
Please advise about the last day to use metrocard.