The MTA has a new way to pay — and it could save you money.
New York City’s subways and buses on Monday will launch “fare capping,” which automatically issues unlimited passes to straphangers if they spend $33 on single ride fares in less than a week.
The program — formally titled “Best Fare” — is only available to riders who use OMNY, the agency’s new tap-and-pay fare system.
Unlike seven-day MetroCards — which give unlimited rides for a week — unlimited rides in the Best Fare new program will only be available for riders who spend enough on fares between any Monday and Sunday.
For example, if a rider buys 12 single-ride $2.75 fares from Monday to Thursday, they can tap with the same credit card or OMNY card and pay no more to ride on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The MTA hopes the new system improves post-COVID pandemic commuting patterns. Many New Yorkers no longer travel to work five days a week, making it harder for them to know if the up front purchase of an unlimited pass is justified.
“Fare capping is a big boom for riders and the city overall,” said Danny Pearlstein, spokesman for Riders Alliance, an advocacy group. “For riders who are not going into the office every day, there’s less incentive to buy an unlimited. But this gives more incentive to use the transit system.”
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials in January authorized fare capping as a four-month pilot program that will last until late June. The pilot could keep running beyond that point without approval from the MTA board, which sets transit fare policies, said agency spokesman Eugene Resnick.
There are some caveats to the program, officials said.
OMNY taps at the same station or bus must be at least 15 minutes apart for them to count towards the unlimited ride reward. That actually provides more leeway than an unlimited MetroCard, which requires riders to wait 18 minutes between swipes at the same station.
And the OMNY fare capping option might not be economical for some riders who use 30-day unlimited MetroCards, which cost $127.
The math is a little weird, but assuming a $127 price for a 30-day unlimited card and a $2.75 per-ride base fare, you can ride about 46 times — from home to work and back 23 days — before the 30-day card would give you rides beyond the $2.75 per ride base fare cost.
Over 30 days under the OMNY fare capping option, you’d need to spend $132 on OMNY taps — 12 rides per week over four weeks, or 48 rides at the $2.75 base fare — before you’d get free rides.
Transit officials earlier this year said they were working to use the new OMNY tech for more fare options.
Changes to fares are also coming to the MTA’s commuter railroads this week, including the return of peak fares starting Tuesday.
Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road riders have since March 2020 only been required to pay off-peak fares, although the MTA’s ticketing smartphone app has allowed them to buy more expensive peak tickets.
Transit officials softened the blow with a series of discounts on the railroads that began Friday, including a new 20-trip ticket option that gives a 20% discount from peak fare prices and a 10% discount on monthly tickets.
The MTA also created a new “City Ticket,” which offers $5 one-way fares on any off-peak LIRR or Metro-North trip that starts and ends within New York City limits. And the LIRR’s Atlantic Ticket — which offered $5 fares for commutes within Brooklyn and southeast Queens on weekends — is now available around the clock.
“This is all about winning riders back to the MTA system,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said in a statement. “I’ve made it a priority to get creative on fares. A big part of that is giving customers the best deal for their money. The new 20-trip ticket option was created specifically for the rider who might be coming into the office only a few times a week.”
