MTA eases rules for ‘fare capping’ on NYC subways, buses

It’s now easier for subway and bus riders to score a discount on their weekly fares when using OMNY.

The MTA tweaked its so-called fare capping program when the agency hiked the cost to ride last month.

When the program launched last year, riders who tapped the same credit card or smartphone on an OMNY reader would only be charged for their first 12 transit trips in a given week. The idea was to max out the weekly fare for OMNY users at the same cost of a seven-day unlimited MetroCard.

But there was a catch: The system only counted a “week” as one starting Monday and ending Sunday, making it more difficult for New Yorkers who don’t work a typical nine-to-five to get the discount.

That changed on Aug. 20. Now, the fare-capping option is calculated over any seven-day period — starting whenever someone makes their first OMNY tap, and resetting when that week is over.

“The fare-cap benefit feels more generous under the new system,” said Christopher Neff, who lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. “It also seems fairer to workers who might commute on weekends and have days off midweek, because they might earn free taps under the new system that they could not earn under the old one.”

Another small change transit riders may notice is how much they’re charged by OMNY once per week.

The MTA needed to make the math for fare-capping add up after it hiked the cost of a single transit ride to $2.90 and the price of a seven-day unlimited MetroCard to $34. Now, OMNY users will be charged just $2.10 the 12th time they tap in a week.

The OMNY system is scheduled to be the MTA’s only fare payment option by the end of 2025, when the agency plans to say goodbye to the MetroCard. MTA data shows the new system is catching on, with 42% of subway and bus riders using the tap system as of the spring.

Transit riders will eventually be able to buy special reloadable OMNY cards at subway vending machines. But the rollout of the equipment has been beset by delays. The MTA previously said they would install the new vending machines this summer, which ends in two weeks.

“The OMNY vending machines will start to rollout in pilot phase very soon and the full installation will proceed over 12 months,” MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick told Gothamist last week.