MTA's Tap-To-Pay System Is Coming To Penn Station

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — One of Midtown Manhattan's busiest subway stations will be outfitted with the MTA's new tap-to-pay fare systems in the coming, the transit authority announced.

Penn Station is one of seven subway station that will receive the contactless payment system called OMNY by the beginning of December, transit officials said. The system, which stands for "One Metro New York," is part of the MTA's plan to phase out the MetroCard.

Turnstyles outfitted with the OMNY system feature electronic scanners where riders tap either a smartphone or credit card to pay their subway fare. The system is proving more popular than the MTA's estimates and has been used more than 3 million uses as of Nov. 5, transit officials said.

"Our customers have adopted OMNY at impressive levels during the public pilot and I expect that to continue now that we're beginning to roll out to the rest of the system," Al Putre, the OMNY program executive, said in a statement.

Other stations that will be outfitted with the OMNY system by the end of November include Sutphin Boulevard, Whitehall Street, South Ferry and 86th Street-Bay Ridge and the St. George and Tompkinsville stations on the Staten Island Railway. OMNY should be operational along the 4, 5 and 6 lines from 51st Street to 125th Street the 4 line from 138 Street-Grand Concourse to Woodlawn and the 1 line from Rector Street to 59 Street-Columbus Circle by the end of the year.

OMNY started as a pilot in June on the 4, 5 and 6 lines from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The MTA plans to expand OMNY to the entire subway and bus system by late 2020, transit officials said.

Read more about how OMNY works here.