From Tokens to OMNY | The History of the New York Subway's Fare Payment System
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Throughout its history, the New York City Subway has had many different means of riders paying its fare. From Tickets to Tokens, to the Metrocard, and now the OMNY Card, there is a lot to discuss when it comes down to the Subway's fare history, and in this video, we are doing just that.
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#mta #nycsubway #omny
Hey Mystic, you should make a video addressing the ongoing issue with people subway surfing on the top of subway cars. As you probably heard recently, a 15 year old teenager died while subway surfing when he fell off the top of a Jamaica Center bound J train and landed between the Third Rail, which killed him instantly. I feel like the word needs to be brought out about this ongoing problem and how we can counteract it.
Deadass though but it’s parents that don’t care enough to discipline their kids
The kids don't have discipline at home, so they will think it will be the same outside
Yeah he was a good friend of mine rip 💙🕊️
He's made several videos about this in the past few months
That isn’t a mta problem that is a people problem. What do u get from subway surfing………. Nothing other then probably 5 mins of fame lololol
It's about time the fare system went digital, other cities are way ahead of us, sometimes I use OMNY, prepaid bank card or any mobile device, but it's always nice to reminisce of where the fare system began
I prefer tokens & MetroCards, as I'm a traditional person.
@@bennythepenny5831 u also talk about extending the subway like money doesnt exist
I would argue, yes.
As the world gets more digital, so should MTA. They mind as well get with the times.
I use my phone. Like getting a MC is useless
@@pinkprint487 exactly.
5:16 - When I visited NYC a few times in the 1980s & 90s, I would buy three tokens from the human clerk in the station-booth, use 2 for rides that day, and keep the third as a souvenir.
I like how the MTA choose to use the TfL/Cubic system! TfL has so much experience in this field and it's nice to have a bit of London in our sister city :)
There will be a fare hike in August, to $2.90.
10:01 i agree, but there should be 1 or 2 wide turnstiles too so that wheelchair users and strollers don't need the exit doors and maybe they can be phased out and fare evasion can stop
Pretty interesting video! I love the history videos you make about the Subway! (or if you're an odd1sout fan, the sooubway.)
It's not going to stay 2.75. Going up next year.
Incredible video about it. I enjoy it by watching it.
Great video, there was a token that had a silver circle in the center of the token before the last minted tokens with the pentagon cutout in the center were introduced.
History is really interesting. We have come a long way.
Only problem I see with Omni is that if you've been out all day and into the night and your phone battery has died, how do you pay the fare to get home? Obviously, as long as we still have the MetroCard, there's a simple alternative. However, if the MetroCard has been phased out, and Omni is the only way to pay, then in the aforementioned situation, you'd be SOL, especially if home is a borough or two away.
You could carry an OMNY Card.
You literally have the OMNY card and you can also get them in check cashing places
cost to buy: 5$ vs 1$ for a new metro card
the card is bulkier and thicker
there's a half second delay from when you tap the card and the turnstile lets you through which isn't the case with the metro card
I also just strongly dislike the card design, black and white and why the huge fake barcode?
In Europe, many subway systems use the honor system for payment. Transit police roam train cars randomly asking for people's tickets. If you don't have a ticket, you get fined. However, knowing this, I still paid the fare every single time I used a subway or train in Europe and was never stopped by transit police. So theoretically, I could've never paid throughout my whole trip to Europe and never have gotten caught.
I know this is true for all transit in the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).
For the rest of Europe (at least west of Germany) I'm not sure this is correct.
Amsterdam has fare gates, London, Paris, and I think Barcelona and Madrid too.
I don't know how it is East and Central Europe east of Germany. I only ever visited Krakow over there and they use an honor system for Trams.
But to be honest I do prefer the honor system because it allows hop on hop off, and if you don't find the time to buy a ticket at the vending machine, you still can buy it either on the vehice (especially what used to be East Germany) or using an App.
@@IamTheHolypumpkin It's true of basically everything to the east of France in my experience. With the unfortunate exception of my native city of Stockholm which does have turnstiles in the metro as well as force people to board at the front of the bus even though the driver no longer has a role to play in fare collection.
Changing from MetroCard to OMNY has issues though. You can wind up with odd values left on MetroCard not enough to pay one fare and the MTA will not help you try to zero out the card, you cannot transfer funds to OMNY, you cannot add funds at the right value to zero the card out and you have to wonder where the odd funds left on cards go.
Hope we get a limited release of the Blue cards before they are no longer used.
...& sometimes passengers don't pay.
Happy New Year.
They just announced a day ago that the MTA's looking into designs for new turnstiles
I prefer a $1.50 regular fare. The student fare should be $1.25, the disabled person fare should be $1.00, the veterans fare (only for veterans) should be $0.75, & the employee fare should be $1.10.
If MTA ever reaches their goals, we could have those cheap fares, while nowadays they are barely able to survive with a $2.75 fare! Major improvements I propose would make all this possible, but only if it's done. I propose to MTA major station renovations/restorations, new fare control systems, & subway extensions.
Employees shouldn't have to pay
Mystic, you should do a video about corruption within the MTA...
Hi Mystic please do a video on what your idea to stop fare beating. I seen it every day people going thru the doors. Cops don't care, they opened the door for people to get in for free. This is causing us all who uses the subway to subject to unfair increase.
i was standing at that 6 train stop just a couple of days ago, odd :)
I have some tokens and the original Metro cards
For anybody who lives in NYC how common is fare evading? Both times I went there my metrocard started acting funky at the turnstiles and each time I was offered entry through the fire exit by a commuter.
So common. Its like a everyday thing.
@Qing Qing Wang Everybody and their mothers jump the turnstile or go thru the gate the only people who actually pay are tourists and transplants lol
You don't live here, so don't worry about it.
We need new faregates that is as tall as 5 feet. No more turnstiles jumpers
Hey mystic hope you're doing well have you made a video recently of fare Invaders jumping in turnstiles mta losing billions of dollars because of this
Interesting, I wonder if MTA Actually goes along with The DC model On buses, Incorporating maybe A payment plan That you can use From An app of your phone Can be super convenient And a lot more possible If they eliminate Metro cards And payment for buses.. MTA has to consider Maybe getting more private Investors To help support With any future projects And debts Because Uncle Sam doesn't seem to want to Help so much but want the city to run hmmm
I propose a new fare control system inspired by the collapsible camping cups. They would use the same design as the cups & go horizontally along the fare control passageway. The passageway should open up around the person with the motion sensors letting the passenger in once paid. The closing of the collapsible bars would easily prevent others from evading the fare & also let in the disabled. The easy to open doors for the disabled would be rendered useless.
Nobody takes you seriously
I wonder if this is actually going to work have the MTA has Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe VVO Nahverkehr Dresden integrate commuter rail Ferry buses possibly light rail into the Omny system that way a single Rider can simply tap their Onmy Card their starting station then Tap out at the end point on either Long Island Railroad & Metro North. Merry Christmas to you and excellent video
when i first started noticing how the subway worked, it was around 2000, at 1.50. how did it go from 15 cents to $1.50?
There were periodic fare hikes over the previous decades. I'm old enough to remember my mom taking me on the bus when I was a little tot in the early-'70s when the fare was 30 or 35¢. By the time I was riding the bus to high school in the mid-'80s, it was about 70¢. (I had a nickel fare bus pass, fortunately.) Kept on going up and up, little by little.
omny is hot garbage ive experienced double charges, i rather even go back to tokens man
Maybe you’re using it wrong.
Also do keep in mind that in a few years (probably 2024) OMNY will be the only way to pay for fares on the subway. Either get with the times or risk being left behind.
I rather have a physical OMNY as NONE of my working phones have NFC readers.
please do the brooklyn bus redesign
Let's hope the future of fare payment on the subway is no fare at all :). #freeTransit
First and hi mystic
New update, there’s now an student omny
I’d rather someone not pay their fare than surf the subways. It’s becoming a serious problem.
My personal headcanon is quad track the L
They can hike the fare to $3 to make it nice and round. But after that, don't raise it again for like 30 years.
Path uses the metro card, but it isn't compatible with MTA
@logical_railfan ohok that must've been it then. All the cards I've tried were unlimited from the mta end. That's pretty dumb though. I still don't think the one from PATH are, though
The fair hike is coming ..
fare*
Honestly I think Omny is a good thing. It speeds up lines and is easy to use. And, you don’t have to use it.
Well, in the future, you WILL need to use it.
@@MysticTransit I hope not!
@@MysticTransityes the metro card won’t work on metro north and lirr after summer 2025 nice bus will support it until 2027 or so and path train is unconfirmed and the path trains will get omny and it’s complicated to how it works and you should be able to use omny in New Jersey path stations and charge path fare,path digital payment should be compatible with omny
@@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2 the Metrocard has never worked on Metro-North and LIRR
@@MysticTransit I can always use my legs
9:26 (D) TRAIN AT 23 STREET!?
Service to 23rd due to delays.
@@nathanieldaiken1064 Don't you just hate it when you're on an express train that gets switched onto the local track? I sure do.
I against for the higher to the 3.54$, that’s to expensive for the ride!!!
nice video but idk the tone of the voice is just off. Sounds like you woke up at 3 am and then immediately jumped right in to do this video. Idk. Just seemed weird to me.
They Should Be Make like Smart Cards 💳 For Subway
They do have OMNY cards sold at stores like Walgreens.
@@TheRailLeaguer, and some Walgreens owned duaneREADE locations.
omni isn't good for ferries.
I HAPPY I GOT ME A HAFE CAD AFTER ALL YEAR I MA DISABLED SO HAPPY GET CARD USED GET LOT PEOPLE I TAKE TRAIN AND BUS TO WORK
i still use metrocard
Me too, & I don't plan on using OMNY anytime soon.
Wrda me
@@bennythepenny5831 In a few years you will have no choice.
RIGHT HERE I LOVE ♥♥♥ THE BRAND NEW N.Y.C. M.T.A. MASS TRANSIT R211T SUBWAY TRAIN 🚇 CAB CARS 🚇🚇🚇 ON THE A TRAIN.
The fare for the MTA Subway is increasing to $2.90 by Labor Day 2023 🥲