{"id":318571,"date":"2026-08-11T12:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318571\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T12:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:10:16","slug":"for-some-older-nyc-bus-riders-change-comes-easy-just-not-omny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318571\/","title":{"rendered":"For Some Older NYC Bus Riders, Change Comes Easy. Just Not OMNY."},"content":{"rendered":"

The digital age is dawning for older bus riders who refuse to dump coins for the MTA\u2019s new fare-payment methods.<\/p>\n

With OMNY now in use on 92% of paid bus trips, according to the MTA<\/a>, the transportation authority is nudging golden-aged holdouts who still drop loose change into fareboxes to switch to the tap-and-go technology<\/a> before coins are no longer accepted later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we have been doing is just being vocal,\u201d said Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit. \u201cWe have been out there in every outlet possible, I have personally gone to a lot of senior centers and talked directly about the transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even after making the case for OMNY in presentations at more than 110 senior centers, as well as libraries, public housing developments, religious institutions and other locations with heavier coin usage on buses, the MTA still faces pockets of resistance among some older riders.<\/p>\n

\"AA Brooklyn bus rider drops coins into a bus farebox, Aug. 3, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

MTA officials announced the discontinuation of coin fares<\/a> on buses last October, after eliminating hand-to-hand cash transactions at subway station booths in the early days of the pandemic. Cash transactions were permanently banned<\/a> at the booths in 2021, though OMNY vending machines accept paper bills and change.<\/p>\n

Yet coins still have a following on the buses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carmen Collazo, 77, said she prefers paying for bus fares by reaching into her sack of loose change instead of loading money onto her reduced-fare OMNY card.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel more comfortable with the coins, but I guess I have to get used to it, go with the times and do what I need to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnMTA officials gave a presentation at a Harlem senior center about shifting to the OMNY fare-payment system, Aug. 7, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

MTA officials Alberto Roldan and Charley Cohen last week visited an East Harlem senior center to promote the tap-and-go payment system. The pair set up shop at a table stocked with lens tissues featuring a map of the subway system and with pamphlets on how riders 65 and older can tap into OMNY via farecards or mobile devices.<\/p>\n

When Roldan, the MTA\u2019s assistant director of government and community relations, asked the room of older New Yorkers how many had received reduced-fare OMNY cards, most of the attendees thrust their hands into the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Roldan was received with a \u201csay what!\u201d and an \u201coh, wow!\u201d \u2014 along with a few groans \u2014 after informing the crowd that coins will no longer be accepted as payment on buses \u201cat some point later this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I always carry that extra change, just in case I don\u2019t have no money on my OMNY card,\u201d said Coleta Horton, 68. \u201cI don\u2019t want to beat the fare.\u201d<\/p>\n

MTA officials have emphasized that unlike MetroCards \u2014 whose sales ended at the end of 2025<\/a> \u2014 OMNY cards can be refilled online, at more than 2,700 retail locations<\/a> and without having to set foot into a subway station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MTAMTA official Charley Cohen gives a presentation at a Harlem senior center about using OMNY to pay fares, Aug. 7, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the OMNY ecosystem, we have retail vendors \u2014 that means CVS, Walgreens, delis that we\u2019ve partnered with \u2014 where a coin-based customer [or] a cash customer can go into these retailers and do these transactions, upload value into the OMNY cards,\u201d said Quemuel Arroyo, the MTA\u2019s chief accessibility officer. \u201cThey can do it from their homes if they have access to a computer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as the MTA has faced a host of complaints<\/a> from riders during the yearslong conversion to OMNY, the tap-and-go technology is now used for 99% of paid subway trips, according to the transportation authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But on buses \u2014 where about half of all passengers dodge the fare, according to MTA data<\/a> \u2014 riders can still nickel-and-dime their way into a trip. (Officials have also said foreign coins and old tokens sometimes get dropped into the farebox.)<\/p>\n

Ediberto Sanchez, a laborer from The Bronx, used quarters and nickels to partially pay the fare on a Bx12 bus he boarded on Fordham Road earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pay what I can with coins, and when I start getting paid for work, then I will refill the card,\u201d he told The City Reporter in Spanish. \u201cUntil then, I\u2019ll pay $2 in coins, or whatever I can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EdnaEdna DeLoatch, 72, attended an MTA presentation on OMNY at a Harlem senior center, Aug. 7, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

\u2018You Can\u2019t Do That With OMNY\u2019<\/p>\n

One of the chief complaints about OMNY that the MTA has faced is that fare readers on buses and in the subway do not tell riders the remaining balance on a fare card. Trip records are available online, but some OMNY converts said they still carry loose change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the MetroCard, once you paid, you could still see how much you had on your card, but you can\u2019t do that with OMNY,\u201d said Edna DeLoatch, 72. \u201cThen you get tired of lugging around those extra coins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janno Lieber, the MTA\u2019s chair and CEO, said last month that the transit agency is developing software updates to allow riders to more readily access OMNY balances<\/a> when tapping in for a trip.<\/p>\n

\"BronxBronx bus rider Nidia Santana said she still carries coins to pay for fares in case her senior OMNY card is not stocked with enough money, July 31, 2026. Credit: Jose Martinez\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n

Cohen, who serves as senior accessibility officer at the transportation authority, reiterated that goal during his presentation at the East Harlem senior center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s an issue and we\u2019re working to fix it, hopefully, by the end of the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While waiting for a bus along Fordham Road this month, 69-year-old Nydia Santana said she still sometimes pays the fare with loose change, but conceded OMNY has grown on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get used to it, it\u2019s easier,\u201d she said. \u201cPlus, I\u2019m tired of collecting coins.\u201d<\/p>\n

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