About contactless payments
Learn more about contactless cards
Contactless cards are the next generation of bank cards. Instead of swiping or inserting a standard bank card, you can make transactions with the quick tap of a contactless bank card. Contactless cards have this symbol on the front or back. If you see this symbol on your card, you can tap it at OMNY readers at subway stations and on buses to make fare payments and enter the system.
Many banks and financial institutions have started switching to contactless cards to make payments faster and more secure for their customers. If you do not have a contactless card today, you can request one from your bank or financial institution. You can also link a non-contactless card to a digital wallet and use it with your smart device. Keep scrolling to learn more about digital wallets.
Learn more about digital wallets
Digital wallets are mobile applications that allow you to make payments with smart devices, such as your smart phone, smart watch, or wearable. Like contactless cards, smart devices also use contactless technology. Before you can make fare payments with your smart device at OMNY readers, you will need to add your bank card to your digital wallet.
If you have more than one card linked to your digital wallet, make sure to choose which card you want to use before you tap it at an OMNY reader. Otherwise, the OMNY reader will use the default card linked to your digital wallet.
You may need to unlock your smart device to use your digital wallet. Refer to the user guides and settings for your smart device and digital wallet to learn more.
When you add your bank card to your digital wallet, it will create a device account number. The device account number is different for each smart device that you use. The last four digits of each device account number will appear in your OMNY account when you tap your smart device at OMNY readers.
Choose how to pay and be on your way
Credit cards
- Cards issued on the Visa®, Mastercard®, American Express®, Discover®, UnionPay, and JCB networks are accepted today.
Debit cards
- Cards issued on the Visa®, Mastercard®, American Express®, Discover®, and JCB networks are accepted today.
- PIN-restricted debit cards cannot be used at this time.
Reloadable prepaid cards
- Cards issued on the Visa®, Mastercard®, American Express®, Discover®, UnionPay, and JCB networks are accepted today.
- Non-reloadable prepaid cards and gift cards cannot be used at this time.
Digital wallets
- Digital wallets on your smart phone, smart watch, and wearable are supported today, including Google Pay™, Apple Pay®, and more.
- If your bank card has a chip but is not contactless, you can still add it to your digital wallet on your smart device to make contactless fare payments.
- Certain bank cards cannot be added to digital wallets to make contactless payments, so check with your bank and your digital wallet provider for more information.
Commuter benefits
- Several commuter benefits providers are beginning to issue contactless cards or allow cards to be added to digital wallets. Reach out to your commuter benefits provider to learn more.
Additional information
- Learn more about contactless payments offered by our partners:
