48 more subway stations, including Penn Station, will get the MTA’s tap-to-pay system next month

At the end of May, the MTA rolled out its new tap-to-pay fare system, called OMNY (One Metro New York), at 16 subway stations on the 4, 5, and 6 lines between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, in addition to all Staten Island buses. After a successful pilot–OMNY surpassed three million taps last week–the agency has now announced that it will add the contactless payment system at 48 more subway stations next month, including Penn Station, Whitehall Street, and all stops on the 1 train between Rector Street and 59th Street-Columbus Circle.

OMNY’s e-readers accept contactless credit, debit, or reloadable prepaid cards, as well as digital wallet apps on mobile phones and wearables and Google Pay. The larger $574 million plan is for all 472 subways stations and all MTA bus routes to have OMNY by the end of next year, with new subway stations being added each month. During this transition time, free transfers are only available between OMNY-equipped stations; riders will need to use their MetroCards at other locations (MetroCards will be accepted through 2023).

As 6sqft previously explained, when the full system has OMNY in 2020, “the MTA will add additional fare options such as weekly and monthly passes and reduced and student fares. There won’t be a cash option initially, but starting in 2021, the MTA will sell contactless transit cards at retail locations. In 2022, they’ll be available for sale through 2,000 vending machines in subway and commuter rail stations.” Other expansion plans include expanding the system to the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North in 2021.

Here is the full list of stations and line segments where OMNY will become available next month:

• Penn Station: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E
• Whitehall Street: R, W
• South Ferry: 1
• 86th Street-Bay Ridge: R
• Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue-JFK: E, J, Z
• 51st Street to 125th Street: 4, 5, 6
• 138th Street-Grand Concourse to Woodlawn: 4
• Rector Street to 59th Street-Columbus Circle: 1

RELATED:

• MTA’s new tap-to-pay system begins replacing MetroCards today
• MTA board approves $51.5B capital plan, largest in the agency’s history
• The history of the New York City MetroCard

Lead image: MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye, Program Executive Al Putre, and Transit Tech Lab Director Natalia Quintero hold a press conference at Fulton Transit Center on Tue., August 13, 2019 to announce the millionth tap of the OMNY fare payment system. Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit