Digital OMNY Cards Are on the Way for Some NYC Students

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Student OMNY cards are going digital, at least for some New York City students, Chalkbeat has learned.

New York City’s Education Department is launching a pilot program for virtual student OMNY cards at seven schools, officials confirmed on Monday. Officials declined to share which schools will be part of the initiative and said the participating schools were subject to change.

Officials initially said the pilot would launch this fall, but later walked that back, saying they had no start date yet.

Students at those schools might not be allowed to access their cellphones during the school day, but will be able to use their devices to tap for their commutes to and from campus. The move comes after widespread complaints of physical cards breaking and long delays for replacement cards.

The Office of Pupil Transportation selected participating traditional public, charter, and non-public schools after assessing whether they were ready to transition to cellphone-based OMNY cards.

The school system and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have been discussing the move to virtual cards for more than a year. Students without phones would still be able to obtain physical OMNY cards.

The shift from student MetroCards to OMNY cards during the 2024-25 school year has been a game changer for many students. They now get four free rides a day, 365 days a year, at any time, a significant upgrade from the three daily rides during limited hours on school days.

But many students have run into problems with the flimsy paper cards, which are known to suddenly stop working and can be difficult to replace from school in a timely manner. Some families have told Chalkbeat they’ve waited for months to get replacement student OMNY cards. And while some students are able to pay the fare in the meantime, others can’t afford to and jump turnstiles.

Ishaq Bekoe, a student at the NYC School for Collaborative Studies, told City Council members at a March City Council hearing that his friend’s OMNY card “randomly” stopped working last year.

“We thought it was just a glitch, however, the next day, the same thing happened,” Ishaq said. “So he had to jump the turnstile where an officer approached him and stopped him and asked him where his OMNY card was. He tried to explain to the officer that his OMNY card wasn’t working, to which the officer replied that something like that doesn’t just happen.”

His friend was able to show the officer his OMNY card, but then missed his train and had to wait another 10 minutes.

“When a student’s card stops working without warning, it is not just an inconvenience, it can disrupt their entire day, their attendance, and their sense of stability,” Ishaq said.

August Hoyt, a student at Bard High School Early College Manhattan and a member of the youth activist committee for the Transportation Alternatives transit advocacy nonprofit, told City Council members that his OMNY card had been deactivated at least half a dozen times for reasons that were unclear to him. His peers, too, have been left stranded by malfunctioning or deactivated cards.

“It puts students — and particularly students of color — at risk of confrontations with the law enforcement,” August said.

Several students at that hearing pushed the city to expand eligibility for student OMNY cards to groups that don’t currently receive them, including students who live less than a half-mile from school and students with disabilities who ride yellow buses and are limited to that single mode of transportation.

Without OMNY cards, those students miss out on benefits such as free rides on weekends and during the summer, as well as transportation to and from sports practices, extracurricular activities, and internships.

Education Department officials said the current eligibility requirements will remain in effect for the coming school year.

New York City pays the MTA about $50.5 million annually for the student OMNY cards program, officials said.

This story was updated to reflect new information from the Education Department about the pilot program’s timeline.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

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