People who have lived in New York for a while must be familiar with monthly passes! After electronic payment, tap&go has no unlimited tickets, which brings a lot of inconvenience to those who need to commute back and forth every day and are afraid of losing paper tickets!
recent! OMNY, the contactless payment system of the New York subway, will launch a “Tap-and-Go” weekly pass unlimited ride service?
I believe that my friends in New York have already experienced the OMNY system at the gate of the New York subway, that is, “Tap-and-Go” contactless payment. But at present, this function is limited to a single payment ($2.75), and if you need a weekly or monthly pass, you still need a traditional MetroCard to operate, which is very troublesome.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to launch an unlimited ride service for OMNY with a weekly pass-while making it easier for passengers in the digital age, it also encourages New Yorkers to take more public transportation such as the subway in the post-pandemic era.
Starting March 1 next year, once commuters reach the $33 threshold using OMNY within seven days, unlimited rides will be available for the rest of the week. Did not quite understand? Why is this rule different from the traditional MetroCard weekly pass rules?
In fact, there is not much difference – both are $33, 7 days, you can simply understand it as an “electronic version” of the MetroCard weekly pass. However, the more convenient place for OMNY weekly pass is ?
fixed time period
The 7-day calculation method of the traditional MetroCard weekly pass is a 7-day countdown from the moment you top up your account. However, the 7-day calculation period of the OMNY Weekly Pass is fixed, from 12 am on Monday to 12 midnight on Sunday. You don’t have to worry about remembering what day you recharged your weekly pass!
Enable free mode
A traditional MetroCard weekly pass costs a one-time $33, but most of that $33 is wasted if you’re busy during the week and can’t go out as often as you planned. You don’t have to worry about using the OMNY Weekly Pass! Because it’s a one-time accrual system, there’s no need to pay $33 in the first place.
Calculation
$33 is equivalent to 12 subway rides for $2.75; the OMNY weekly pass is free if you exceed 12 times during the week.
It is reported that the program will be open to all OMNY users, starting March 1, 2022, and lasting four months to June 30.
The new move comes after New York’s governor announced until 2023: no MTA fare increases, no service cuts, just to attract passengers. Although last week, the MTA shattered a record for passenger traffic during the pandemic, with more than 3 million rides per weekday, that’s still a far cry from the pre-pandemic daily average of 5.5 million.
MTA acting chairman Janno Lieber said in an interview that while the plan could cost the MTA $3 million to $5 million in lost fare revenue per month, it would be worth it to lure commuters back to the subway!
According to a 2019 survey by transit research and advocacy group Transitcenter, people living in low-income New York neighborhoods are more likely to use weekly subway passes than monthly passes. This is also one of the important reasons why the OMNY system decided to provide “weekly ticket wool”.
The proposal was announced this Monday (December 13) and will be voted on by the MTA Board of Directors at its meeting today (December 15). MTA acting chairman Janno Lieber said he expected the board to approve the fare plan.
