We’re approaching about a half of year left of MetroCards before the OMNY card fully takes over, and commuters are already running into problems!
Many New Yorkers have taken to social media lately to express frustration over delayed charges to their OMNY accounts, which seem to hit at random times.
Riders have reported that charges for subway and bus trips sometimes show up several days, or even up to a week or more, after they actually traveled.
In some cases, multiple charges appear all at once in a “cluster,” which can be confusing and make it harder to track your spending or spot potential errors.
So what’s the problem here, why is it happening?
While many commuters have come across the issue sporadically since OMNY has taken the spotlight, a high volume of users have seen the issue become more apparent in recent weeks.
Since, the MTA have even acknowledged the problem, attributing it to ongoing software update bugs during the transition away from MetroCard.
The bugs can include delays in processing bank-card payments, which then show up in bulk on bank statements.
Am I being overcharged at all?
They have stated that these delays may continue throughout the summer as they work to improve the OMNY system, but they insist that riders are not being overcharged—just billed later than expected.
John McCarthy, MTA chief of policy and external relations, told THE CITY earlier this week that, “We have not seen anybody overcharged.”
“What we’re seeing [instead] is delayed charges and then they come in a cluster.”
When are these bugs getting fixed?
According to the MTA, commuters will probably see these sorts of delayed charges throughout the rest of 205, and being tidied up by the start of the new year.
Coinciding with the phasing out of the MetroCard and full shift to OMNY, MTA’s deputy chief of commercial ventures, Jessie Lazarus said, “This is our system adding capacity and becoming scalable so that by the time we get to MetroCard sunset in January 2026, we’re good to go.”
So what I can do about this problem?
At the moment, there’s not much New Yorkers can do in regards of these delayed OMNY charges besides keeping an eye on their OMNY accounts!
For those set up with an online OMNY account, you can actually view trip history and cross reference this with charges on your card/bank account.
Tip: Let the charges run its course for a couple of business days after they come in, cross compare to your trips, and if they still don’t match up, then get a hold of OMNY support.