Apple Pay Now Accepted at NYC's Penn Station, Coming to 85 More MTA Stations Later This Month

[Harlan Erskine]

I like the OMNY system but it would be far better to due away with an entrance fee altogether and pay for everything with progressive property, income and tourist taxes. Think of all the money that is wasted on enforcement of the entrance fee that could go to improving service!

Like Kansas City:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/kansas-city-make-public-transit-free

 

[emilonrails]

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit is just now (in 2019) starting to replace cash-only add-fare machines with ones that take debit/credit! Finally moving into '90's technology!

 

[tmiw]

Good luck with that. Apple announced back in April that Ventra, the Chicago version of "OMNY" and run by the same company, would have these features before the end of the year and just today the CTA quietly updated their website to announce that it's now just "coming soon". If you have a monthly pass, like most of us do, you have to use a physical Ventra card and will for the foreseeable future. It's a real letdown.

Yeah, I'm kinda glad San Diego went with INIT instead of Cubic for their next-gen fare system, even though Cubic is a local company. Seems like Cubic projects are more likely to fall behind/go over budget for some reason.

 

[I7guy]

All part of apples plan to track you

I’ll take the convenience aspect over the tracking aspect any day. Edit: ya got me, my sense of humor must have been derailed
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“MetroCards will remain available until at least 2023, according to the MTA.”

And then what? Only NFC cards and Apple Pay will work? That will leave lots of older tourists stranded...

Metro cards expire in a year. MTA should stop selling them actively one year prior.

 

[unchecked]

All part of apples plan to track you

oooooh. Now I see the pun. Well played.

 

[dontwalkhand]

“MetroCards will remain available until at least 2023, according to the MTA.”

And then what? Only NFC cards and Apple Pay will work? That will leave lots of older tourists stranded...

NFC OMNY cards just like Chicago has.
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Meanwhile in San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit is just now (in 2019) starting to replace cash-only add-fare machines with ones that take debit/credit! Finally moving into '90's technology!

The Clipper Card is getting a huge upgrade to be similar to this, they’re calling it Clipper 2.0

 

[diego.caraballo]

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit is just now (in 2019) starting to replace cash-only add-fare machines with ones that take debit/credit! Finally moving into '90's technology!

I visited SF recently and was surprised about how poor the BART payment systems is. I was expecting that a city/area that host so many tech companies will have a top-notch implementation. Guess that their employees don't use public transportation . Chicago experience in other hand was great, just tap with my CC right at the airport. Didn't need to buy a card, add money to it...so much easy and intuitive for a tourist.

 

[Onlytemporary]

Yeah, as the comment above me said, the MetroCard will be replaced with a tappable OMNY card in ~2021.

I think cash will also remain an option.

So lots of options:

1. Tap your phone/watch using Apple Pay/Google Pay/etc.
2. Tap your contactless credit card, Visa/Mastercard/Amex/etc.
3. Tap your OMNY card when available
4. Cash

View attachment 882202

cash isn’t an option now so i don’t think they’ll be adding it. Sure, you can use cash to buy a card from many of the machines, but you cannot use cash to pass through the turnstiles.
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[konqerror]

2. Apple doesn’t track what/where/when you pay for something when it comes to Apple Pay. That information is solely between the customer/bank/merchant.

They actually do. When you use Apple Pay, your GPS coordinates are sent to Apple so they can set the "accepts Apple Pay" indicator in Maps. The same data is also queried when you pay with Apple Card in order to get the merchant information displayed in Wallet ("Apple Pay Merchant Identification"). This tracking is anonymized, but it still happens.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Bay Area Rapid Transit is just now (in 2019) starting to replace cash-only add-fare machines with ones that take debit/credit! Finally moving into '90's technology!

BART was the one who held up TransLink/Clipper for years because BART didn't want to lose the interest they got from holding ticket balances, as well as the revenue from discarded/lost tickets. The typical California bureaucracy at work.

 

[I7guy]

They actually do. When you use Apple Pay, your GPS coordinates are sent to Apple so they can set the "accepts Apple Pay" indicator in Maps. The same data is also queried when you pay with Apple Card in order to get the merchant information displayed in Wallet ("Apple Pay Merchant Identification"). This tracking is anonymized, but it still happens...

Isn't there a toggle to turn this off in settings?

 

[konqerror]

Isn't there a toggle to turn this off in settings?

Yeah, Apple Pay Merchant Identification in System Location Services.

 

[ignatius345]

Come one NYC!!! Tokyo has been doing this for years! Tap your phone to enter and exit with a prepaid app or use a ticket from the vending machine. It's easy, time efficient, and many countries are doing this.

They’re rolling it out now. What exactly is your point?
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I would say most commuters in NYC have a monthly or weekly prepaid card and very few use pay-per-ride. Until the upcoming additions aren’t implemented it won’t be too widely used.... probably mostly tourists

Even if most people use unlimited cards, there are surely hundreds of thousands of people who don’t hit the right number of rides to break even on an unlimited. If you don’t commute every day then it starts to become a losing proposition pretty quickly.

 

[thewhitehart]

I’ve been using a contactless card (Suica/Pasmo) in Tokyo for the past eleven years now and my iPhone for about three.

It’s a real bummer returning home and having to use that damn prehistoric MetroCard in a turnstile. Half the time it doesn’t work. I actually preferred tokens to the MetroCard. Get with it, NY!

 

[kazmac]

Yeah, as the comment above me said, the MetroCard will be replaced with a tappable OMNY card in ~2021.

I think cash will also remain an option.

So lots of options:

1. Tap your phone/watch using Apple Pay/Google Pay/etc.
2. Tap your contactless credit card, Visa/Mastercard/Amex/etc.
3. Tap your OMNY card when available
4. Cash

View attachment 882202

Thank you for this info.

 

[RobNYC]

“MetroCards will remain available until at least 2023, according to the MTA.”

And then what? Only NFC cards and Apple Pay will work? That will leave lots of older tourists stranded...

London doesn't seem to have a problem with this.
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no not everyone has a smartphone supporting that. Heck Apple Pay isn’t available in every country...

no New York if you can’t afford an iPhone?
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Thanks. That makes much more sense then

How are you paying for a trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world if you can't afford a phone?

I would say most commuters in NYC have a monthly or weekly prepaid card and very few use pay-per-ride. Until the upcoming additions aren’t implemented it won’t be too widely used.... probably mostly tourists

That's the point. They need to work out any problems before they switch the whole system over. It was be incredibly irresponsible to just massively switch everything over without extensive testing.

 

[sinsin07]

I like the OMNY system but it would be far better to due away with an entrance fee altogether and pay for everything with progressive property, income and tourist taxes. Think of all the money that is wasted on enforcement of the entrance fee that could go to improving service!

Like Kansas City:
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/kansas-city-make-public-transit-free

Nothing new here:
"Tallinn, capital city of Estonia with more than 420,000 inhabitants, and several mid-size European cities and many smaller towns around the world have converted their public transportation networks to zero-fare."

However these are NYC vs Kansas City, Mo line items:

• The population of Kansas City, Mo is (pop 491,000) next to NYC (pop 8,398,000).
• NYC has 2 million more residents than the entire state of Missouri.
• NYC's annual ridership numbers is number one at 2,629,594,200 (in US).
• Staten Island alone has more riders than Kansas City, which is not even listed for annual ridership.
• NYC already has some of the highest taxes in the country. (Which could be why : New York leads all U.S. metro areas as the largest net loser with 277 people moving every day-Bloomberg August 2019

Wonder if there any large cities with over 5 million people with free public transportation.

 

[edgonzalez32]

Useless until they finally implement unlimited ride plans, which is what most of us commuters have. Hurry up MTA!

That's literally the plan.
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“MetroCards will remain available until at least 2023, according to the MTA.”

And then what? Only NFC cards and Apple Pay will work? That will leave lots of older tourists stranded...

MTA is going to be doing what Philly is doing now, which is the SEPTA Key Card. Basically a debit card you get from a kiosk and just refill it for single rides. Or your monthly pass goes on there.

 

[Optheduim]

Yeah, as the comment above me said, the MetroCard will be replaced with a tappable OMNY card in ~2021.

I think cash will also remain an option.

So lots of options:

1. Tap your phone/watch using Apple Pay/Google Pay/etc.
2. Tap your contactless credit card, Visa/Mastercard/Amex/etc.
3. Tap your OMNY card when available
4. Cash

View attachment 882202

Cash will be accepted @ vending machines to load an OMNY. One cannot feed a turnstile dollars.

 

[pcaleb]

Last night, I noticed they had installed the readers at the 14th Street station for the 1, 2, and 3 trains ("Coming soon," the displays said). I'd guess that after dipping their toes in the water, assuming all goes well the MTA will expand to other stations faster than we all expect. I remember the same happening with the Metro Card years ago--slow, then all of a sudden the swipe turnstiles were everywhere as if overnight. (I also remember how amusing it was to hear New Yorkers cursing to high heaven about the hardship of moving to a new system that replaced the sheer perfection of heavy tokens with slim, weightless cards that fit in your wallet and made things like monthly passes possible.)

 

[Optheduim]

I am so excited for OMNY. I live on the 1-Line here in the city so it’s super exciting to watch the rollout.
I‘m also excited for the OMNY rollout for Metro North Railroad and Long Island RR, but the commuter rail rollout will not start till 2021.
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All part of apples plan to track you

It’s not like the MTA never had tracking metrics. Monthly Unlimited / Metrocard Express is connected to a credit card (that’s what I use). Nonetheless, there will be a cash option and an OMNY card soon...

 

[Jakuta]

Useless until pre-tax commuter cards like from WageWorks are supported.

The onus here is on WageWorks and they still haven't finalized plans to support this.

Commuter Benefits Cards Slow to Adapt to MTA’s New Tap-and-Pay System

 

[ignatius345]

Last night, I noticed they had installed the readers at the 14th Street station for the 1, 2, and 3 trains ("Coming soon," the displays said). I'd guess that after dipping their toes in the water, assuming all goes well the MTA will expand to other stations faster than we all expect. I remember the same happening with the Metro Card years ago--slow, then all of a sudden the swipe turnstiles were everywhere as if overnight. (I also remember how amusing it was to hear New Yorkers cursing to high heaven about the hardship of moving to a new system that replaced the sheer perfection of heavy tokens with slim, weightless cards that fit in your wallet and made things like monthly passes possible.)

Tokens were pretty cool in their way. The great part of them was that they were totally unambiguous and human-readable, unlike the metrocard, which requires a reader to reveal its value. A token was like a dollar coin, and you could even use one at a deli (if they agreed to it) or leave it as a tip since it was easily fungible in nyc.

Of course the metrocard made possible all kinds of great stuff, like discounts and unlimited ride passes that at least made the subway somewhat more economical in the face of ever-rising fares.

 

[chinito77]

They’re rolling it out now. What exactly is your point?
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You should obviously know my point but since you need help let me break it down for you. I grew up in NY and for years they have been trying to test ways to speed up entrance/exit process. Around 2012, they started experimenting with some contact less booths that work with phones which had NFC capabilities. DC was using a similar experiment for select riders. I had high hopes but for what ever reason that project failed. So far a city which everyone thinks of as the Metropolitan standard, why couldn't they just adopt what other cities in Asian have been doing, which has worked flawlessly.

In short, this should have been implemented many years. Not today, not tomorrow, but a long time ago when all the tech was available for them. American public transportation has to the be worst for any developed country. Heck, even third world countries where you have to jump on a moving bus or train have better on time schedules and run later hours.

 

[ignatius345]

You should obviously know my point but since you need help let me break it down for you. I grew up in NY and for years they have been trying to test ways to speed up entrance/exit process. Around 2012, they started experimenting with some contact less booths that work with phones which had NFC capabilities. DC was using a similar experiment for select riders. I had high hopes but for what ever reason that project failed. So far a city which everyone thinks of as the Metropolitan standard, why couldn't they just adopt what other cities in Asian have been doing, which has worked flawlessly.

In short, this should have been implemented many years. Not today, not tomorrow, but a long time ago when all the tech was available for them. American public transportation has to the be worst for any developed country. Heck, even third world countries where you have to jump on a moving bus or train have better on time schedules and run later hours.

Yeah, I'm a New Yorker too, bro. 22 years of daily subway use. Frankly, I'm a whole lot more concerned with whether my train is coming and how crowded it is -- not to mention the safety and condition of the system -- than some fun new way to pay my $2.75.

And this isn't a "city in Asian", this is a state where the MTA has been treated as the Governor's private piggy bank for decades now. It's been loaded with debt and maintenance and upgrades have been deferred for so long that trains run on WWI-era switches -- even as ridership has skyrocked. And you're griping about the fare payment technology? Sorry, man, but if the train ain't coming, I could give a rat's ass how the turnstile takes my money! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, what exactly is holding people up from quickly paying their fare right now? Look at any busy turnstile, people barely break their stride swiping their cards. It's lightning quick. In a lot of stations, the bottleneck is the number of entrances and exits. Once people are at the turnstile, they pass through incredibly quickly (unless they're the high "meat grinder" turnstiles which suck and should all be removed).

And despite all that, it's 2019 and now that the test program is over, the MTA is aiming to have this rollout done by about one year from now. That's upward of 500 stations. You say they should have done this "a long time ago" but frankly there are bigger fish to fry than making it simpler for them to take our fare money.

 

[T-R-S]

London Underground accepts Apple Pay no cards required if your event Visting London use Apple Pay on the underground it's 50% cheaper than buying tickets at the machines