OMNY issues are plaguing increasingly frustrated straphangers — just days before MTA makes it the go-to option for subway fares.
Commuters reported getting charged multiple times for a single ride when using the new tap-and-ride system, or being unable to check their card balances, as well as broken re-loading machines at various subway stations.
“It’s not a good system right now,” said Fannie Brown, 58, lugging a large suitcase as she tried to catch the Q train at the 34th St-Herald Square station — but couldn’t re-up her OMNY card due to three busted machines there Friday.
“They should’ve stuck to the MetroCard, but it’s too late for that now.”
OMNY, whether via the card or through tap-to-ride, will become the sole option for riding the rails in the new year as the Metropolitan Transit Authority retires the decades-old swipe system on Dec. 31.
The transit authority has repeatedly touted the new technology, promising that it was actively smoothing out the kinks — and pointed out that OMNY riders can check their balance and trip history online rather than at a station.
“Reduced-fare customers are tapping away as 94% of trips are now made with tap and ride. It’s a more convenient system that makes paying the fare easier than ever,” MTA Spokesperson Eugene Resnick said in a statement Friday.
But various riders have reported getting charged numerous times per tap — a bug the MTA has been working to fix for months.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the MTA. The new maps, this OMNY thing, where I never know what I’m being charged. Do we really need all that stuff? Shouldn’t they be fixing the subway stations?” Gwen Linden, 54, of the Upper West Side griped to The Post during the Christmas Day travel rush.
Brown, at the packed Herald Square station on Friday, also bemoaned the tech issues she faced with OMNY, as well as the lack of working machines to add cash to her card.
“You go from machine to machine,” she said, while on her way to a second machine.
“It’s annoying because when you tap the card at the turnstile, it doesn’t work. There is money on my card. It is saying, ‘Can’t read’ or something like that, so I just go to the booth and the person just lets me through the gate,” Brown continued.
Although not as serious as potential theft, some riders grieved the loss of a MetroCard feature that showed riders just how much cash was left on the card — and whether they were using a free transfer — when they swiped through the turnstile.
“It’s simpler and faster than the MetroCard. But I wish it would show the balance and the transfers,” Sara Sloan, 76, of Brooklyn, said of OMNY.
MTA Chief Customer Service Officer Shanifah Rieara has said the agency was brainstorming such a feature, to show riders how close they are to scoring their free rides.
Some New Yorkers were simply in mourning for OMNY’s tried-and-true predecessor.
“Why did they get rid of the MetroCard? Were people complaining about the MetroCard?” asked Kim Wong, 68. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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