OMNY contactless fare system coming to NICE buses this year, officials say
The MTA has finalized a deal to bring its new OMNY fare system onto Nassau buses by the end of 2025 — five years later than originally planned, officials said.
Mark Smith, spokesperson for the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE, confirmed on Tuesday that a deal had been reached, adding that, “The timetable is still being reviewed but NICE is hopeful for a 2025 deployment.”
Nassau’s 76,000 daily bus riders have long been waiting for the integration of OMNY, an acronym for One Metro New York, on the county’s fleet of nearly 300 buses. The contactless fare payment system, which replaces the 30-year-old MetroCard, allows transit users to pay for their trips using a tap of their phone or credit card.
The MTA began rolling out OMNY in 2019, and completed installation of the system on all its buses and subways in 2023.
But the agency has faced major delays in bringing OMNY to affiliate transit systems, such as Westchester’s Bee-Line and NICE. The MTA initially predicted Nassau bus riders would have access to the system in 2020, and have repeatedly pushed back the target over the years.
The MTA has also postponed the rollout of OMNY on the Long Island Rail Road, which was initially supposed to have the system in place on its trains by 2021. The MTA last year announced that a scaled-down version of OMNY would come to the LIRR by 2026.
In a November virtual meeting with Passengers United, a transit advocacy group, NICE marketing and communications director Erika Richards said the delays were on the MTA’s end and not NICE’s.
“OMNY is a product of the MTA. It is their product. It is their timeline as to when they are going to roll it out to affiliates … We have been working with the MTA literally for five years on getting this,” Richards said. “We’re ready … They’re not ready for us.”
The MTA has blamed the delays, in part, on Cubic, the firm hired by the MTA in 2017 to develop OMNY. Spokespersons for Cubic declined to comment.
Beyond the added convenience of being able to pay their fares with a tap of a phone, OMNY provides other benefits not available to Nassau transit users paying their fares in cash or through NICE’s “GoMobile” app, such as free transfers to and from MTA buses and subways.
In her November meeting with transit advocates, Richards said about 40% of NICE customers travel to and from the MTA system, “and they need that free transfer.”
“We are desperate to go ahead and get this in our vehicles,” she said.
Charlton D’souza, president of Passengers United, said bringing OMNY to NICE is even more important given the scarcity of MetroCard vending machines at key bus stops in Nassau and Queens.
“I do not understand why it’s taken the MTA this long,” said D’souza, who, after so many delays in bringing OMNY to NICE, was skeptical that it would be in place by year’s end. “What’s to say they’re not going to move the goal post again?”
OMNY users also benefit from fares that are capped at $34 per week, meaning that, after making 12 trips in a week, all other rides are free. NICE officials said they are still discussing the possibility of bringing fare capping to its system.
MTA spokesperson Kayla Shults said Nassau commuters will be able to pay their standard $2.90 per-ride fares by tapping their OMNY-enabled phone or card on “tap-and-go validators” to be installed on NICE buses.
The MTA has finalized a deal to bring its new OMNY fare system onto Nassau buses by the end of 2025 — five years later than originally planned, officials said.
Mark Smith, spokesperson for the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE, confirmed on Tuesday that a deal had been reached, adding that, “The timetable is still being reviewed but NICE is hopeful for a 2025 deployment.”
Nassau’s 76,000 daily bus riders have long been waiting for the integration of OMNY, an acronym for One Metro New York, on the county’s fleet of nearly 300 buses. The contactless fare payment system, which replaces the 30-year-old MetroCard, allows transit users to pay for their trips using a tap of their phone or credit card.
The MTA began rolling out OMNY in 2019, and completed installation of the system on all its buses and subways in 2023.
But the agency has faced major delays in bringing OMNY to affiliate transit systems, such as Westchester’s Bee-Line and NICE. The MTA initially predicted Nassau bus riders would have access to the system in 2020, and have repeatedly pushed back the target over the years.
The MTA has also postponed the rollout of OMNY on the Long Island Rail Road, which was initially supposed to have the system in place on its trains by 2021. The MTA last year announced that a scaled-down version of OMNY would come to the LIRR by 2026.
In a November virtual meeting with Passengers United, a transit advocacy group, NICE marketing and communications director Erika Richards said the delays were on the MTA’s end and not NICE’s.
“OMNY is a product of the MTA. It is their product. It is their timeline as to when they are going to roll it out to affiliates … We have been working with the MTA literally for five years on getting this,” Richards said. “We’re ready … They’re not ready for us.”
The MTA has blamed the delays, in part, on Cubic, the firm hired by the MTA in 2017 to develop OMNY. Spokespersons for Cubic declined to comment.
Beyond the added convenience of being able to pay their fares with a tap of a phone, OMNY provides other benefits not available to Nassau transit users paying their fares in cash or through NICE’s “GoMobile” app, such as free transfers to and from MTA buses and subways.
In her November meeting with transit advocates, Richards said about 40% of NICE customers travel to and from the MTA system, “and they need that free transfer.”
“We are desperate to go ahead and get this in our vehicles,” she said.
Charlton D’souza, president of Passengers United, said bringing OMNY to NICE is even more important given the scarcity of MetroCard vending machines at key bus stops in Nassau and Queens.
“I do not understand why it’s taken the MTA this long,” said D’souza, who, after so many delays in bringing OMNY to NICE, was skeptical that it would be in place by year’s end. “What’s to say they’re not going to move the goal post again?”
OMNY users also benefit from fares that are capped at $34 per week, meaning that, after making 12 trips in a week, all other rides are free. NICE officials said they are still discussing the possibility of bringing fare capping to its system.
MTA spokesperson Kayla Shults said Nassau commuters will be able to pay their standard $2.90 per-ride fares by tapping their OMNY-enabled phone or card on “tap-and-go validators” to be installed on NICE buses.
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