OMNY gets criticized by New Yorkers as MTA struggles to fix system bugs
New York City commuters are expressing frustration as the MTA’s OMNY fare-payment system experiences glitches causing delayed charges, difficulties with tap-ins, and long customer service wait times.
New York City subway riders are becoming increasingly irate with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) OMNY fare-payment system due to a string of technical glitches. Passengers have reported such incidents as delayed payments, double payments for a single ride, and difficulty tapping through turnstiles.
Compounding the irritation is the challenge of obtaining timely customer service. While the MTA concedes these issues and promises changes, roll-out from the established MetroCard system to OMNY has been rocky, with the full roll-out anticipated for January 2026. In the meantime, travelers must endure the discomfort of a still-working-out system.
OMNY faces critics in NYC as it transitions from the MetroCard
Subway and bus riders are incensed about OMNY glitches that charged them late, barred them from tapping through turnstiles — and forced them to wait out long stretches for customer service on the MTA's new fare-payment system.
Commuters have been kept in the dark lately by glitches that, in some cases, have charges show up days after the fact on bank statements or malfunction while tapping.
But MTA officials contend that riders are not being kept waiting for rides they did not receive, and instead accused the issue of being caused by bugs that they say will be smoothed out — within the end of this year.
That's when the MetroCard goes the way of the token and is replaced by the tap-and-go fare-payment system already used by two-thirds of all New York City Transit riders.
The bugs can include delays in processing bank-card payments, which then show up in bulk on bank statements.
“We have not seen anybody overcharged,” said John McCarthy, MTA chief of policy and external relations, told THE CITY Tuesday evening on a joint call with Jessie Lazarus, the transit agency’s deputy chief of commercial ventures. “What we’re seeing is delayed charges, and then they come in a cluster.”
Lazarus said constant software updates to OMNY could look around the summer months and result in delays in processing.
OMNY is New York's new contactless payment system, set to fully replace the MetroCard by the end of 2025. Photo: GLR composition/amNY
The MTA's goal, she said, is to have the OMNY system "bulletproof" when the agency phases out the MetroCard and launches full tap-and-go. She did acknowledge, though, that on occasion riders will notice delays in $2.90-per-trip taps being processed if there is a software issue.
"Our goal and our beacon is really real-time settlement," Lazarus said.
The suburban uproar overprices is another chapter in the glacial transformation from to OMNY from MetroCard, itself beginning to displace the token in 1994.
Commuter frustration is mirrored in the slow and bumpy transition away from the MetroCard that displaced tokens starting in 1994.
Social media shared New Yorkers' frustration with OMNY
Social media customers have reported trip fees appearing while they were out of state, being locked out of pre-tax benefit cards, and being unable to reach OMNY customer service, with wait times reported as being more than 100 people.
"When I call customer service, my calls are repeatedly dropped,", one rider posted to X.
Chelsea Hall, who commutes between Elmhurst and Hudson Yards on the No. 7 line, told THE CITY news that her attempts to get answers on why her pre-tax benefits card was repeatedly declined yielded nothing.
“It seems like a mess, especially since I tried to reach out to customer service and I still haven’t heard back from them over email,” Hall, 33, said. “Using the train and the bus here is the only way that most people get around, so to have to add on an extra five or 10 minutes to your commute to buy another fare card is an inconvenience and a waste of time.”
To address complaints from riders, the MTA posted alerts on its app and website about tap-and-go processing delays, assuring customers that they are not being overcharged.
The transition to tap-and-go technology has faced a number of setbacks, including software glitches that slowed down its introduction and the unavailability of the system on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.
Parents of school kids have also complained about OMNY cards, according to previous coverage by Chalkbeat. However, MTA officials continue to hold that the system will be fully functional and expandable when it takes over from the MetroCard in January 2026, as Lazarus emphasized.
