The Metropolitan Transportation Authority switched on its first OMNY card vending machines on Monday, making it easier for New Yorkers who pay their fare with cash or don’t have tap-compatible debit or credit cards to use the new fare system.
Agency officials celebrated getting the rollout underway, saying its evidence that the much-hyped and much-delayed and $772 million to replace the aging MetroCard system is back on track.
“For an agency that just turned 119, by the way, last Friday, we are bringing New York City Transit into a new generation of fare payment,” said Rich Davey, the chief of the MTA’s subway and city bus systems.
The new machines will allow straphangers to purchase and load cash onto OMNY cards in subway stations for the first time since the MTA began switching over to the tap-based payment system in 2019.
There have been 10 machines installed so far at six stations across the system, including Bowling Green and 86th St.-Lexington Ave. in Manhattan; Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center in Brooklyn; Junction Blvd. in Queens; and the Fordham Rd. stops for both the No. 4 and B/D lines in The Bronx.
Davey said machines would be installed across the rest of the system over the next year — but added that the MTA was still at least 18 months away from switching off the old MetroCard system entirely.
The machines will sell single-use tickets and reusable cards, both of which can be tapped on OMNY readers to pay the fare.
Additionally, the machines will let straphangers load money onto their reusable cards, just like they can MetroCard machines.
Previously, the MTA had attempted to sell OMNY cards like gift cards at bodegas, grocery stores and pharmacies. But, the program struggled amid widespread complaints that the retailers did not make the cards easy to find — or, in some cases — just didn’t put them out.
Currently, roughly half of subway riders are using the OMNY to pay their fare, usually either by using their smartphone or using a credit or debit card with the tap switch, Davey said.
The MTA is eager to get New Yorkers to switch over because it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep the now three-decade old computer systems underpinning the MetroCard up and running.
For instance, portions of the MetroCard were built on IBM’s failed OS/2, the operating system that the computing giant hoped would take on Microsoft Windows.
The vending machines were initially expected to be installed over the summer — but the rollout has struggled with delays like much of the rest of the OMNY, which is at least four years behind schedule and an estimated $130 million over budget.
A Post investigation published in May revealed how a toxic stew of buggy software, management turnover and changing priorities led to rampant dysfunction in the program.
Davey offered a rare glimpse into the programming challenges at the press conference — acknowledging that the company that developed the software underlying OMNY, the Cubic Corporation, has had to make some two dozen updates, rewrites and tweaks to the program over just the last year.
Originally, the MTA hoped to bring its Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad onto OMNY — and link it together with the Port Authority’s PATH subway system and the JFK AirTrain.
OMNY readers only arrived at the JFK AirTrain this year, while MTA officials acknowledge they are still trying to work through the details of how to implement the new system on its commuter railroads.
Meanwhile, the PATH has opted to build its to hire the same contractor the MTA has used for OMNY, Cubic, to build a second and incompatible fare system.