The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York has confirmed that it is to pilot weekly fare capping for passengers using the Omny open loop ticketing system on its subway, bus and Staten Island Railway services.

The fare-capping service will ensure that passengers making Omny contactless fare payments pay no more than the price of a seven-day travel pass when they make multiple journeys over the course of a week.

“Under this pilot, customers who tap and go with Omny would be charged the standard $2.75 pay-per-ride fare for their first 12 trips starting every Monday,” the MTA explains.

“Any further trips through the following Sunday would be free of charge.

“As a result, no Omny customer would pay more than $33 per week, which is the current price of a seven-day unlimited-ride MetroCard, and customers would receive the benefit of a seven-day unlimited-ride card without paying upfront.”

The MTA is introducing the pilot as part of a “series of temporary promotional changes to fare structures” across its networks in order “to encourage New York’s ridership recovery and reduce costs and uncertainty for public transportation customers”.

The Omny fare capping pilot will begin on 1 March 2022 and will run for “at least four months”.

News that the MTA was considering the introduction of fare capping for Omny users first emerged in November.

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