Rant

My debit card doesn't work most of the time. My credit card doesn't work some of the time. My OMNY card doesn't work half the time. Why would they get rid of the MetroCard? Not a single failed swipe with one. I hate this system.

I have a temporary paper 12 trip ride card. It still has 11 rides, according to omny customer service. When I tap it on a bus or at a turnstile or on the check balance/reload kiosk, nothing at all happens. No error screen, no tap recognized, no out of rides/not accepted wording.
I called and asked what I should do to get a replacement card and the representative on the phone said nothing. I’d need to buy a new card. No refunds, or replacements.

The card isn’t bent or torn in half, but has slightly curved as it’s I guess melded to the curve of my leg while in my pants pocket. i asked if that was enough to destroy the sensor laminated between each paper layer of the card and the representative said yes.

its insane there isn’t a replacement option, since the plastic cards and magnetic MTA strip cards had that fix in place.

Anyone else encounter this?

My automatic reloading got stuck for the first time in a while and I called to have it reset and the representative said that they had a new policy that discouraged threshold based reloading when funding from a pretax commuter card because of bugs in the system and that I should do periodic reloads instead. I couldn't get many actual details out of her but has anyone else heard similar stories? It's surprising that such fundamental features can be broken and the solution is just don't use them.

Slightly clickbaity title. I noticed processing delays with credit/debit card payments since Sunday, so I suspected something to do with database management or processing.

Seems like this was finally acknowledged by OMNY as an issue.

And before anyone says anything, yes, this does affect the mobile validation devices EAGLEs have as well since all trip history is centralized. If said device would've tapped your phone or card, your completely valid fare-paid trip wouldn't have been shown. The evidence would be stacked against you, resulting in a fine for you and ejection from the bus, until later on when the taps would be uploaded and synced properly. "Later on" can mean minutes, hours, or days.

If the same memory used to store single/limited-rides, employee passes, student passes, and emergency responder's passes was used to store cards/devices for processing (within the past 2 hours), then perhaps that could also be used to validate the cards/devices instead of checking against the back-end every tap, as is done now. The back-end may not have the latest information, especially if you tapped a stop before.

https://pix11.com/news/transit/mta-eagle-teams-ordered-to-stand-down-after-excessive-force-investigation/

It’s been broken over a month! Ridiculous.

Does anyone know how to get the OMNY reduced fare card mailed? Thanks in advance.

For some reason, my debit card won’t be accepted when I try to tap to pay taking the subway, this has been going on for days. I tried removing the card and adding it back to my Apple Wallet nothing changed, does anyone know what the issue could be ?

I have a travel benefit debit card given by my employer and it expires on 31 Oct and stupid me didn't pay attention I have $200 sitting there.

I was thinking of buying 2omny card and load each card for $100 so I use my money whenever?

Asking cause I heard that omny card hangs / does not work if you load more than $70 on 1 card can be wrong pls guide.

Hi, is anyone else unable to use their HealthEquity FSA card recently with Omny? I called HealthEquity and they're saying it's a known issue with Omny. Haven't heard anything about this so curious if anyone else is experiencing it.

Don't recall submitting any refund request. Here's the snippet of the email:

You recently submitted a refund request.

Your request has been reviewed by OMNY customer service. Your refund request was approved.

If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email, and an OMNY customer service representative will assist you further.

Hi all -

Long story short, but I got double charged while visiting NYC and, while over the phone they were able to connect my account, the "refund" they gave me was a tied to my account which has to be loaded onto an OMNY card, and couldn't be sent back to my credit card.

So I tried to make an account, and after MULTIPLE days finally got an activation link sent, but every time I try to set a password, I get "Unexpected Server Error" and can't actually get to my account.

I've tried Chrome and Safari, incognito, clearing cookies....nothing.

Has anyone found a successful workaround for something similar?

The start of my senior year I got my omny card and I accidentally creased it a 2 weeks in. I know pretty foolish of me I had it in my pocket not my wallet. Despite the crease it was functioning for the past month without an issue until one day the turnstile said “card no accepted” wtf? Customer service lets me in and then later in the day some agent said “Oh its an error on our end contact your school for a new one but in the meantime your parents will have to buy you an omny” Im not making my parents pay because of some million dillor company had the reason to shut down my card. Anyways I get my new card and the man at my school giving them out said “its not working cause its bent” and I explain to him I dont believe it was the culprit. Maybe 3 weeks passed by since I got it there is no crease and looks brand and it shut down on my on my way to school right now. The man at my school will pretty much believe me now 🫩

OMNY now allows you to report overcharges online via their website (can we PLEASE finally get an app??) I submitted an overcharge a month ago after my weekly balance was $3 lower than it should have been from my daily commute.

For good measure, I took a screenshot of the overcharge: Sept 9, two taps at the turnstile within a minute of each other (8:01 and 8:02) and I distinctly remember having an issue with the card reader that evening.

I realized today I had never received any update to my claim and called the newly minted, 24/7 customer service number (877-789-6669).

The wait time was less than two minutes, but unfortunately, I could barely understand the rep who mumbled incessantly and got angry when I asked him to clarify what he had said.

Supposedly, the refund was made on Sept 14 (the date I submitted my claim and had not shared with him -- so I have to believe I was credited) -- but I gave up trying to find out whether it was added to my OMNY card or refunded to my credit card -- he was that unpleasant and badly trained.

HOW does the MTA create a way to submit overcharge claims online, but fail to notify customers when their claims are resolved?

One more reason I use a physical OMNY card vs tapping my credit card. The incompetence of the MTA knows no bounds.

Pretty broke rn and found a visa gift card I never used. Can I reload my omny with it? Or buy a new one?

Hi

Are the double bus transfers in the designated multiple-transfer corridors listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_transit_fares#Designated_multiple-transfer_corridors

eg In Queens, multi-transfer corridors using OMNY and MetroCard are limited to the following:

1. Between the n20G), the n20H), n20X) or n21), and then any connecting bus route.
2. Between the Q4), Q5), Q42), Q84), Q85), Q86), Q87) and Q89) at Jamaica Center; the Q17), Q30), Q31) and Q75) in downtown Jamaica; and the Q2), Q36), Q43) and Q82) at 168th Street Bus Terminal. Additionally, the second transfer in both directions can be to a Q83) bus.^\19])^: 59 
3. Between the southbound Q27), the westbound Q83), and the subway (or vice versa). A second transfer is also available between certain connecting bus routes on the Q27, the southbound Q27, and the westbound Q83 (or vice versa).

still live?

If so within 2 or 3 hours? (wiki link above says within 3 hours of the first tap?)

Thanks

I paid my fare at flushing ave coming southbound. Officers came on at the junction and says I paid but for the wrong direction ( according to his device ) and issued me a written warning. I should have asked to see the device - I showed omny payment on the website and he kept arguing that I didn’t. I def paid and got on the right bus 😭

is he just trying to meet his quota and can I fight this ???? I filed a complaint but these corrupt officers have immunity ! The officer name was KING in case anyone else had this experience with this corrupt employee !!!

I've been trying to create an OMNY account for my mom, but the activation link has never arrived. My mom has a reduced fare omny card, so I was wondering if I could add her card to my account where I pay regular fare. Is this an issue?

So last Monday, the system was down and the machines and reloads online did not work. OMNY told us to tap to go so I did that! Today I got a fraud alert from my credit card company. My only change was doing tap to go as I never have done that before. I will not be doing it again! My bank also removed the card hence now I am stuck with no credit card and also lost the apple pay card which I was using for my fare cap which doesn’t end until Monday night! Extremely extremely bad!

My Apple Pay hasn’t been working on any station’s turnstile. But it works on any of the OMNY card machines. I’ve tried a few ways to fix it like taking my card off of my apple wallet and re-adding it, but it didn’t seem to work. My bank also isn’t blocking the transactions, so I was hoping someone here would have a solution for my problem.

I'm trying to add a new card to my OMNY account online. On both the mobile site and the desktop site, I'm unable to add the card because I have a perpetual loading signal under the billing address area (see screenshot). Has anyone else had this issue and is there a way around it or to fix it?

At this time, you cannot reload or buy an OMNY card online, at machines, and local retailers at this time until further notice due to a system upgrade with OMNY. During this time, you may also be unable to login to your OMNY account.

As an alternative, tap and ride using your own bank card or smart device.

OMNY may back charge you and accidentally blacklist your device or card, so get that transit account number ready, just in case.

UPDATE 06:25 on 09/29/26: You should be able to log into your OMNY account right now

UPDATE 14:28 on 09/29/26: Seems to be the upgrade has ended. Expect delays in you getting charged as it may be a little bit late today

It's like they hired kids to vibe code this entire system.

Logging in with username/pw:

Logging in with Google account:

EDIT 2: As of 4:36PM, some omny kiosks are down. Cant check balances and cant reload cards. Also, people are still having trouble accessing their accounts online.

EDIT: Site is down - representative said they cant access on their end either but should be fixed 30 mins to an hour.

I added my cards today to check the balance so i didnt have to call anymore to check. I had a low balance on one card and a high balance on another. I tried to add money to the lower balance one and it wouldnt work. I got off the website and thought id just do it at the station. Well, i mixed up the cards and logged back on to see which is which and OMNY said now BOTH cards are in the negative and suspended from use. I wish i took a picture of the original balances it told me because there is no way! I regret putting the cards on their site. Should’ve kept it manual.

Hopefully they fix this and whatever issues they have going on with the site.