A Staten Island City Council member is urging the MTA to ensure the borough gets its fair share of OMNY vending machines.
Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, who represents the North Shore of Staten Island, introduced a resolution last week calling on the transit agency to ensure all five boroughs have at least 30 OMNY vending machines.
The resolution asks that the machines be placed in high-traffic areas in each borough, with an eye toward equity. It makes the case that neighborhoods with high ridership and low digital wallet usage rarely have them outside of stations.
“More and more Islanders are accessing mass transit, and while I love the new OMNY digital wallet system, not everyone can learn how to use it,” Hanks said in a statement. “This resolution calls on the MTA to distribute enough OMNY card machines so that riders in every borough and including underserved Staten Islanders, can obtain the cards.”
The MTA has been installing OMNY vending machines at subway stations across the city in its campaign to phase out MetroCards as the fare payment system for subways and buses. Riders who still prefer to pay with cash, or don’t have a credit card or smartphone with tap-to-pay technology, can buy plastic OMNY cards at the machines.
In a statement Tuesday, MTA Spokesperson Lucas Bejarano said not needing the physical machines is part of the benefits of using the OMNY system, and those who don’t have machines near them can buy them in stores throughout the city.
“The beauty of OMNY is that customers now have the option to pay their fare with the payment method in their pockets, whether that’s their smartphone or credit or debit card. Customers no longer need to rely on physical MTA equipment like a vending machine,” Bejarano said. “But for customers who would prefer to use cash, we’re continuing to install OMNY vending machines in stations across the transit system, and we’ve already established an extensive retail network where customers can buy and reload an OMNY card.”
The MTA currently has OMNY machines at the following locations:
- Atlantic Av-Barclays Center (2/3/4/5 by Atlantic Av and Flatbush Av)
- Atlantic Av-Barclays Center (D/N/R by 4th Av and Pacific St)
- Fordham Rd (B/D at the E 188 St/Grand Concourse entrance)
- Fordham Rd (4)
- Junction Blvd (7)
- Bowling Green (4/5)
- 86 St (4/5/6 at the Downtown and Brooklyn entrance)