The MTA Will Offer Unlimited Weekly Rides For OMNY Users Starting Today
If you use OMNY to pay, you'll automatically get unlimited rides after hitting $33
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If you use OMNY to pay, you'll automatically get unlimited rides after hitting $33
If you don’t usually buy a weekly or monthly unlimited MetroCard, you could be getting a lot of free rides starting today!
In order to help increase subway ridership, the MTA is starting a special pilot program for those who use OMNY — the “tap and go system” that allows you to use your credit card or phone to pay for subway fare with just a tap on a digital reader at the turnstile, and which will completely replace NYC’s iconic MetroCards by 2023.
Monday, February 28.
Currently, if you use OMNY you still pay $2.75 for each and every subway or bus ride. But beginning February 28, once you hit $33 during a week’s period (from 12 a.m. on Monday to 11:59 p.m. on Sunday), you will no longer be charged.
Yes, it is the equivalent of the current “weekly unlimited” MetroCard. But, you didn’t get this deal if you were only using OMNY to pay, and even if you did buy the MetroCard, this allows you to not have to pay the $33 cost up-front at the start of the week.
If you were only using OMNY, then you were paying for each and every ride, but now after 12 rides in a seven-day period, you won’t have to pay any longer. Basically, if you take the subway twice a day, you’re getting two rides per week for free. If you ride it more than that, even more.
The unlimited monthly MetroCard is still the best deal, at $127 for 30 days, which means you’ve paid it off after about 46 rides. Again, if you take the subway or bus twice each day, that means you’re getting about 14 rides for free. The weekly unlimited would equate to $132 per month, so you’re saving about $5 per month with the unlimited monthly pass.
But, if you’ve been using OMNY, you haven’t been getting any fare capping deals, so now you should see a difference.
The program was first presented in December and was approved by the board after a vote on December 15, starting as a four-month pilot between March 2022 and the end of June.
The acting MTA chairman and chief executive, Janno Lieber also told the New York Times that he hoped it would become a permanent feature (contingent on how it would affect the MTA’s budget).
“We want to make sure that somebody who is standing in front of the turnstile for their first commute on Monday morning who might not have the 33 bucks to outlay for a weekly ticket doesn’t have to worry about that,” Mr. Lieber told the Times. “A lot of people don’t know when they get on their first ride of the week whether they’re going to be using it 10 times or 11 times or 20 times.”
Here are the rules of the new program, as shared by the MTA: