OMNY fare collection system late out of the gate

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber’s celebration of the billionth rider using the OMNY fare payment to board the New York City Transit subway system today was premature. In 2017, the MTA awarded a $573 million contract to Cubic Transportation Systems to replace the Metro Card. New OMNY (One Metro New York) fare collection technology was originally promised to be coming on line between 2019 and 2023. This date has come and gone. OMNY was designed to speed up passenger boarding. Its primary purpose is to replace the MetroCard, which New Yorkers have used to swipe since 1993 into the MTA New York City subway, bus and Staten Island Railway transit systems.In 2022, the MTA lost over $600 million to fare evasion. There is no indication in 2023 that this fnancial loss will be signifcantly re- duced. Neither Hochul nor Lieber is able to explain how the introduction of OMNY in coming years will end routine fare evasion as it continues to fourish today.

Over the past few years, there has been a series of MTA management changes, programming challenges and changing priorities that have all contributed to project implementation delays.

Over time, the base contract cost for installation of the new OMNY fare system has grown to $645 million. It has also fallen several years behind the original agreed-upon base line schedule between the MTA and contractor. The project is currently $130 million over budget.

Who knows what additional costs may be incurred in coming years? The MTA has never made public any agreedupon, detailed recovery schedule from the contractor. This would indicate week by week, month by month and year by