As the MetroCard nears the end of its more than two-decade run as New Yorkers’ entry pass to the transit system, its high-tech successor, OMNY, faces an uphill battle for riders’ approval.
Nearly three out of four people who have made the switch to the new tap-and-go payment system said they have had problems with it, according to a report by an independent watchdog of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that controls the buses, subway and other transit in the region.
The survey, conducted in June and July and released Thursday, was published by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the M.T.A., a consumer advocacy group that makes recommendations to the transit authority. Nearly 400 subway, bus and commuter rail riders responded to the questionnaire.
The most common complaint, made by 42 percent of respondents, was that their OMNY payments sometimes failed to register at fare gates, forcing them to tap repeatedly. More than a third of users said they had received charges hours or days after tapping, with nearly as many believing they had been overcharged, though the vendor that runs the software insists that is not the case. Others complained of long wait times for customer service and a lack of transparency.
“There is a lot left to be desired in terms of communication,” said Brian Fritsch, the advisory committee’s associate director. “We’re not there, we’re not close, and in some ways, at least in the short term, OMNY is a step back.”
The report comes after several complaints of technical glitches that have raised questions about the system’s readiness only months before the MetroCard is scheduled to be officially discontinued at the end of December. OMNY is expected to become the primary way to access all 472 subway stations, the AirTrain, and 348 bus routes citywide. (MetroCards will still be accepted for the time being, but no new cards will be sold.)
Jessie Lazarus, the M.T.A.’s deputy chief for commercial ventures, said the growing use of OMNY — nearly 2.8 billion taps since it debuted in 2019 — was evidence of its popularity. In an M.T.A. survey this spring with feedback from thousands of respondents, more than 80 percent of bus and subway riders who had used the system said they were satisfied with it.
“Every day more than 4 million riders choose to tap to pay for travel in every borough, bus stop and subway station,” Ms. Lazarus said.
OMNY, short for One Metro New York, emerged as a way to modernize payment methods and reduce operating costs, and is already being used by more than 75 percent of riders, the transit authority said. Janno Lieber, the agency’s chief executive, has said the system could save at least $20 million annually in costs related to MetroCard production and distribution.
The system is also designed to help riders save money. About $40 million a year is left unspent on underused MetroCards, the M.T.A. has said. OMNY would help prevent much of that waste, because users pay as they go.
On screens at each fare gate, passengers can pay for entry into the transit system by using a digital wallet on their smartphone or watch, a contactless credit or debit card, or a physical OMNY card.
But the official retirement of the MetroCard, the floppy yellow-and-blue card with a magnetic strip that became synonymous with the subway since its debut in 1993, has some riders feeling apprehensive, even as many prefer tapping to swiping.
Despite the complaints, the committee’s survey found that users gave OMNY an average rating of 3.4 out of 5, and over half of respondents rated the system a 4 or 5.
“I’m happier than if it didn’t exist,” said Greg Remsen, 29, an urban planner living in Queens who switched to the new system about a year ago, but has recently had problems loading funds onto his OMNY card.
Mr. Remsen, who uses a pretax commuter benefit account provided through his job, said the OMNY website has failed to accept payments from a debit card, forcing him to use a credit card. Riders who used employee-benefit cards and debit or credit cards had the highest rate of complaints, the committee’s survey found.
Mr. Remsen was also frustrated that the system, promoted as a seamless upgrade, is still not integrated with a number of transit options in the region that are run by the M.T.A., including the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
Teresa Liao, 42, a product manager for a tech company, said a spurt of unexpected charges on her account in June made her distrustful of the service. One day, when she used OMNY twice, she said she received 14 pending charges.
Ms. Liao said the additional charges were later removed, but that the OMNY website, which previously provided additional fare history, has made it increasingly difficult to keep track of costs.
“I feel like I need a spreadsheet to keep it straight,” Ms. Liao said.
Cory Shields, a spokesman for Cubic Transportation Systems, the company that designed OMNY, said that high demand earlier this year led to a glitch that delayed charges for some customers, but insists that riders were not overcharged.
Thomas Luk, 32, an engineer in Queens, said the system was galling for his senior parents, who qualify for half-cost fares but can no longer see their balance at a glance, as they could with the MetroCard.
“My parents aren’t rich, and they’re really concerned with the cost of living,” he said.
Ms. Lazarus of the M.T.A. said that “quick visual cues” will be added next year to OMNY vending machines and readers that will show more account information. Previously removed features on the OMNY website that gave more detail about fare history will be restored, after additional privacy safeguards are added, she said.
Some survey respondents were also upset with poor customer servic. Jasmine Melzer, 83, who lives in Brooklyn, said she had recently tried to contact the OMNY help line with a payment question three times over two weeks, but was told there were more than 50 people ahead of her each time. She said she never got through.
Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents who filed complaints said their issues were not resolved by OMNY customer service. Cubic, the design vendor, said it had recently expanded its customer service division to reduce wait times to an average of less than two minutes.
The push to convert riders to OMNY by the end of the year comes at a sensitive time for the M.T.A., which is expected to raise the fare for subway and bus rides to around $3 by early next year, up from $2.90.
Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic nomination for mayor with a campaign focused on affordability, has vowed to make buses free if he is elected. Such a policy could cost the M.T.A. more than $800 million a year in lost revenue, at a time when the state, which controls the agency, is bracing for a major drawdown in federal funding.
The advisory committee’s report included recommendations to improve the OMNY system. It said the M.T.A. should expand the city’s half-cost Fair Fares program for lower-income New Yorkers, add a 30-day unlimited fare option, and seek to get more riders excited about the change.
For starters, Mr. Fritsch said, the black-and-white card needs a livelier design.
“It should be an iconic N.Y.C. symbol like the subway token and MetroCard before it,” he said.
Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s transit system.
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