NEW YORK, NY— New York City students at seven schools will begin using digital student OMNY cards this fall, marking the city's first pilot program that allows eligible riders to tap into buses and subways with their smartphones instead of paper transit cards.
The City's Education Department confirmed Monday that the pilot will launch at seven traditional public, charter and non-public schools selected by the Office of Pupil Transportation.
Officials declined to identify the participating schools, saying the list could change before the program begins.
Students without smartphones will still receive physical OMNY cards.
The pilot aims to address one of the most common complaints since the city replaced student MetroCards with OMNY cards: paper cards that stop working without warning and often take weeks or months to replace.
The Education Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have spent more than a year discussing a move to virtual student transit cards.
The pilot follows widespread reports from students and families who said damaged or deactivated paper OMNY cards left them unable to ride public transportation while waiting for replacements.
Students participating in the pilot will be able to use their phones to tap into buses and subways for trips to and from school, even if their schools prohibit cellphone use during the school day.
The transition from MetroCards to OMNY cards during the 2024-25 school year expanded transit access for eligible students.
Student OMNY cards now provide four free rides each day, 365 days a year, at any time. The previous MetroCard program limited students to three rides during designated hours on school days.
The added flexibility has helped students travel to jobs, extracurricular activities and weekend events.
For many families, however, unreliable paper cards have overshadowed those improvements.
Some students told Chalkbeat they waited months for replacement cards after theirs stopped working.
While some families could afford to pay subway or bus fares during the delay, others could not, leaving students without reliable transportation.
At a March City Council hearing, NYC School for Collaborative Studies student Ishaq Bekoe described what happened after a friend's OMNY card suddenly failed.
"We thought it was just a glitch, however, the next day, the same thing happened," Ishaq said.
He said his friend jumped a subway turnstile after the card stopped working and was confronted by a police officer.
"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," Ishaq said.
Although his friend showed the officer the malfunctioning card, he missed his train while the encounter unfolded.
"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.
Another student, August Hoyt of Bard High School Early College Manhattan, told council members his OMNY card had been deactivated at least six times for reasons he never received.
"It puts students — and particularly students of color — at risk of confrontations with the law enforcement," August said.
Students at the City Council hearing urged officials to expand eligibility for free student transit cards.
They asked the City to include students who live less than one-half mile from school and students with disabilities who rely on yellow school buses, saying those students miss opportunities for free transportation to sports practices, internships, extracurricular activities and weekend activities.
Education Department officials said the eligibility rules will remain unchanged for the upcoming school year.
New York City pays the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about $50.5 million each year to provide student OMNY cards, according to Education Department officials.
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