OMNY complaints mount as some riders fail to get fare cap

Complaints have been growing about OMNY, New York City Transit’s payment system, with some riders claiming they don’t receive the same benefits they got with MetroCards.

For example, OMNY is supposed to cap the amount you pay for rides at $36 or 12 rides a week, but gig worker Rhiannon Justice says she ends up paying much more.

“This is where we need a real unlimited OMNY card — the 12 swipes don’t matter,” Justice said. “You might be going to multiple locations, maybe five to six to seven in a day, and then you’re out by the time Monday hits Wednesday, you have nothing left on your OMNY card.”

Justice also said she never receives the free transfer from the subway to the bus. When authorities board and ask for proof of payment, it doesn’t show that she paid, so they want her to pay again.

She says she won’t do it.

“I get off the train at Yankee Stadium. I take the BX13 bus to get up the hill because I live on top of a mountain, and every day I walk,” Justice said.

There were similar accusations made in the comments on a post NY1 made about bus payment validators, with people claiming the OMNY card double charges on transfers.

The MTA says to bring the issue to them.

“I really would caution against being overreliant on social media and anecdotes on this,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “Everything that happens on OMNY is traceable. So, if somebody has a problem, come to us, show us the fare medium that you’ve been using — whether it’s Apple Pay or Google Pay or credit card or an OMNY card — and we can actually trace all of your usage.”

Some, however, argue that OMNY is just so complicated riders have to know what day their week starts on and everyone is different.

“They don’t tell you…there has to be a space. [They] just say tap 12 times, so people go tap 12 times to get that benefit for the weekly,” said Trammel Thompson, vice president at the Transport Workers Union, which represents subway workers. “If you want a weekly unlimited, create a weekly unlimited.”

There are rules to ensure your taps go towards your fare cap, including that there must be 15 minutes between taps and riders must use the same card.

What seems to be little known, however, is that if you register your card on OMNY.info, you can see each trip and each charge, and dispute them if needed — right online.

“There was something fundamentally unequitable about saying to people: if you want a monthly, give me a 100-plus dollars, float the money to the MTA. There was like 40-plus million dollars every year that was left unused on those unlimited.”

The MTA has had issues with Cubic — the company behind OMNY — to the point that it scaled back its contract.

Another issue is not being able to see your balance at the reader. The MTA says it’s pushing Cubic to make that happen.

NY1 reached out to Cubic and have not heard back.