If you ride the bus, you should be prepared to present your OMNY card, credit card or phone to members of the MTA’s civilian Eagle Teams, who will use a small device called a payment validator to see if you paid.

“With the growing use of the new tap-and-ride fare system, Eagle Team members began to verify taps with handheld mobile tools known as onboard validation devices,” New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said recently. “We’ll call them OVDs, for short, on the SBS service.”

What You Need To Know

Ever since COVID, when city buses were free for several months, fare evasion on buses has been rampant, reaching a high of more than 58% of riders not paying on select, or SBS, buses in 2024

Now that 97.5% of riders are using OMNY to pay, the MTA is expanding the use of onboard handheld payment validators for its civilian Eagle Teams to check passengers’ OMNY or credit cards and digital wallets 

The Eagle Teams are currently giving warnings as they try to educate riders about OMNY while checking for payment

At first, the Eagle Teams just watched whether people paid the fare and wrote tickets, but couldn’t verify payment via MetroCard.

But the tap-and-ride OMNY system can be validated with the handheld devices. And ever since COVID, when the buses were free for several months, fare evasion on buses has been rampant, with more than 58% of riders not paying on select, or SBS, buses in 2024.

But as of the first quarter of the year, more riders are paying — though still, slightly more than 50% aren’t on select buses. So the MTA is ramping up enforcement.

“So far, we have been getting additional verification with some of our customers who have not paid, and giving them a warning in advance,” Crichlow said.

That’s because 2.5% of riders have yet to adopt OMNY. Now, Eagle Teams are moving to local buses that allow for using change.

Most of those paying with change are seniors — many non-English speakers.

“We’re going out to senior centers all over the city, and we’re reaching out with our mobile vans to show people how easy it is to use OMNY as this transition takes place,” MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said. “I think we’ve made huge progress.”

And the Eagle Teams are also helping in the effort, educating people about how to use OMNY and how they get transfers. But not everyone is using change for the same reason.

Althea, who was riding the Bx12 recently, has a senior OMNY card, but is wondering what she’s going to do with her spare change once the fare box is gone.

“[What] am I going to use the change on?” she asked, but added: “I’ll get over it.”

According to the MTA, 0.5% of riders are still using MetroCards, but those readers are starting to be removed from the subway system. There is still no word on when the MTA plans to go OMNY-only.