NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has recorded more than 35 million contactless transactions since it launched its OMNY open-loop fare payments service in May of 2019, and usage continues to increase.
MTA announced the new figure at a recent press conference, at which it boasted that it had completed its rollout of more than 15,000 contactless EMV readers at all 472 subway stations in New York City and on a reported 5,800 city buses. That is despite missing 43 days in the implementation schedule because of the Covid-19 pandemic. U.S.-based Cubic Transportation Systems is building the OMNY system for MTA, originally estimated to cost around $540 million.
The transit agency in April 2020 decided to modify the Cubic contract and to double the number of certified EMV readers that Cubic would install on buses in order to enable customers to board at all doors of the bus fleet, the agency said.
