For a long time a physical MetroCard was the first purchase for any visitor arriving in New York. That is no longer the default. Under official MTA guidance, MetroCard is being phased out, with December 31, 2025 set as the last day to buy or refill one. This guide explains what replaced it, how the automatic weekly cap works, and how to set up your payment method before your first ride.
What OMNY is
OMNY, short for One Metro New York, is the MTA’s contactless tap payment system. You tap a contactless credit or debit card, a mobile wallet such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay, or a compatible phone or smartwatch on the reader at a subway turnstile or when boarding a bus. There is no card to buy, no top-up step and no separate transit product, provided your existing payment method supports contactless.
This mirrors a shift in other major cities. London made the same move toward direct contactless payment, and our guide to London public transport for visitors explains how that system compares.
What the fare structure looks like
Per official MTA fares guidance, the subway and the local, limited, rush and Select Bus Service buses share one standard base fare. Express buses carry their own, higher fare. We are not quoting the current dollar amounts here because fares are reviewed periodically and a number printed on this page would go stale. Check the MTA fares page before you travel for the current figures.
The automatic saving many visitors miss
OMNY includes weekly fare capping. Once you have spent a set weekly threshold on subway and local bus rides within a rolling seven-day period, using the same payment method, further rides in that period are not charged. The threshold is higher if your rides include express buses. In practice it works like an unlimited weekly pass, without buying one in advance or guessing whether you will ride enough to make it worthwhile.
The cap only works if you tap with the same payment method every time. Switching between a physical card and a phone wallet splits your rides across two separate totals, and neither may reach the cap. If you have a card and the same card in a phone wallet, choose one and stay with it.
The same rule applies to groups. Each traveller needs their own card or device, so each person builds their own total.
The free transfer rule
The MTA allows one free transfer between the subway and a local bus within a two-hour window from your first tap. It is easy to assume that every ride is billed separately, but for a multi-leg trip inside that window it is not. If you plan a day that starts with a subway ride and ends with a bus, keeping your journeys inside the window can save a fare.
Setting up for your visit
- Use a contactless card or phone wallet you already have, rather than looking for a MetroCard, which is being retired.
- Use the same payment method for every ride so weekly capping accumulates correctly.
- Remember the two-hour free transfer between subway and local bus.
- Check the MTA fares page before you fly for current fares and cap amounts.
If you are travelling from overseas
A foreign-issued card does not always behave the way a domestic one does. Contactless can occasionally be declined or carry extra fees depending on the issuer. Before relying on one card as your only way to ride, check with your card provider that it supports contactless transit payments and what foreign transaction fees apply. Carrying a second card from a different network is a sensible backup. Our guide to cards, cash and currency abroad covers the fee questions worth asking.
What this guide does not cover
We are not quoting fare or cap amounts in dollars. We are also not covering the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North or PATH, which have fare structures separate from the subway and local bus system described here. And we are not claiming every card will work smoothly with OMNY, which is why the pre-trip check above matters.
Where to go next
Where you stay changes how much the subway matters day to day. Our New York City travel guide compares the areas and what each suits. To group sights sensibly across a short visit, see our guide to planning a three-day city itinerary. For how we check our sources, see how we verify.
Source: official MTA fares and tolls guidance on OMNY, fare capping and MetroCard retirement.