The 1 subway line will get partly OMNYified as the MTA continues to roll out its popular tap-to-pay fare payment system. Stations along the 1 between South Ferry and Columbus Circle will get the OMNY readers in December, as will more stations along the 4, 5, and 6 lines, the agency announced at Tuesday's board meeting.
OMNY was first launched on May 31st as a pilot on Staten Island buses and at 16 subway stations along the 4/5/6 lines, from Grand Central-42nd Street to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The expansion will bring OMNY all the way up to 125h Street along the 5 and 6 lines and to 138th Street-Grand Concourse on the 4.
Riders are able to use OMNY with digital wallets or contactless credit/debit cards, with rides being the standard $2.75 (there's no reduced, student, or "unlimited" fare option yet). The MTA aims to have OMNY in all subway stations and on all bus routes by the end of 2020—with reduced, student, and unlimited fare options—and then OMNY will also be available on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North in 2021.
The MetroCard will be phased out by 2023.
A subway high-entrance, high-exit turnstile gets ready for an OMNY reader.
MTA executive Al Putre, who is overseeing OMNY's rollout, said, "This is like a heart transplant. When we went from tokens to MetroCards that was a major renovation. We’re going to be doing things that our customers have never seen before."
