Overview
- Riders will no longer be able to buy or reload MetroCards after Dec. 31, and the MTA says full retirement of the card could come within months.
- The agency reports about 94% of reduced-fare trips now use OMNY, leaving an estimated 90,000 discounted riders still using other payment methods.
- Dozens of outreach events are transferring remaining balances to OMNY, but senior photo-discount card conversions require visits to customer service centers.
- Seniors and some disabled riders report hurdles including reluctance to link bank accounts, challenges replacing paper vouchers on Access-A-Ride, and no balance display at OMNY turnstiles.
- Users describe OMNY machines and gates that sometimes do not accept payments and ongoing confusion about how the system calculates weekly fare caps.