OMNY card’s $5 surcharge is slammed

Now that’s a fare hike.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new physical OMNY fare card — which became available in some retail stores Oct. 1 — will hit straphangers with a $5 surcharge that, at least for now, is nonrefundable.

The plastic cards can be purchased or reloaded with cash or a credit card at a growing number of retailers. Riders can set up an OMNY account online to reload cards or reload them with cash at a store.

OMNY vending machines will be set up in subway stations starting March 2022, giving riders the option to reload their cards with cash without going to a store.

But hidden in the MTA’s terms of service for the new OMNY cards is a $5 surcharge to activate them. That compares with the $1 surcharge riders pay for a new MetroCard.

The OMNY program is run by the technology company Cubic, which operates similar tap-andpay transit fare systems in cities including London and Chicago. Chicago’s system — Ventra — also imposes a $5 surcharge for a new card, but the fee is refunded once the card is registered to a rider’s online account.

That’s not the case in New York, although MTA officials said they’re working on the issue.

“We are actively exploring ways to return the OMNY card charge to customers, including a $5 travel credit or returning $5 when a customer returns the card to an OMNY card point of sale,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. “Meantime, riders can continue using MetroCards when paying with cash, or phones and contactless credit cards for OMNY payments.”

The new tap-to-pay fare system is slated to replace the MetroCard by the end of 2023.

The system became available to riders at some subway stations in May 2019 and was in place at all the subway stations and buses by the end of 2020. Unlimited seven-day or 30-day transit passes remain exclusive to MetroCards.

Until the cards rolled out last week, OMNY could only be used by riders with smartphones or contactless credit cards. The cards mark the first attempt by MTA officials to offer a cash option for OMNY — but the surcharge raised criticisms as an attack on riders without bank accounts.

“New technology should not make subways and buses less affordable,” said Danny Pearlstein, spokesman for the advocacy group Riders Alliance. “The governor and MTA need to figure this one out.”