On Friday, the MTA offered an explanation.
"Yesterday, the subway carried 4.56 million people. The busiest day on the subway since the onset of COVID," said MTA CEO Janno Lieber.
The MTA touted the success of their OMNY, tap-and-ride system, saying goodbye to the beloved MetroCard.
"Overall, we're an 87% tap and ride, which is far ahead of where we thought we were going to be at this time of year," Lieber said.
And for the 3 billionth rider this year, they got a swag bag.
In June, Eyewitness News reported how some commuters were frustrated with tap and ride, claiming their charges were delayed and sometimes incorrect.
The MTA clarified, stating that tap and ride created pending charges that riders accumulated, then processed all at once at a later date. That issue, the MTA says has been addressed, pointing to cubic, the system used by OMNY to process payments.
"All of the challenges about charges showing up and being processed are linked to one fundamental issue... cubic which was operating on servers, and they needed, because of the size of our ridership, to move it into the cloud," Lieber said.
Some users on social media posted issues with the new system, claiming their OMNY card won't work, and another saying the reader at the turnstile won't register for passengers.
"I get emails, I get texts from individual riders. I'm not secret about where to find me," Lieber said. "And they're farmed out to professionals who immediately deal with the rider issues."
If you're still using the MetroCard, the MTA recommends you bounce over to OMNY as soon as possible.
Here are some details you should know:
- MetroCards will no longer be sold after December 31.
- If you need help with transition or question your charges, you can visit one of the 30 customer service centers that will be open by the end of year.
- Remember, after 12 rides, it's free within that same seven-day period, but you have to pay with the same device or card every time, or it won't count.
"Three billion riders have chosen to tap their way into the system because they know it is the easiest way to access our system," said MTA President Demetrius Crichlow.
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