Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 19, 2021 Share #1301 Posted November 19, 2021 2 hours ago, rbrome said: WTF? Yeah... that's a totally bullshit policy. OMNY is way past the pilot/testing stage; it's launched. Not 100% deployed, but very much officially launched. They really expect everyone to still carry a MetroCard? 🤯 That's a hard no from me. If their machine is broken, that's their problem. That's the only remotely reasonable policy. That's exactly how I feel about it. I've noticed that the drivers have eased up, but not always. Last Sunday, an older lady was getting on before me trying to tap the OMNY reader. The driver sat there and would not waive her on until I made it clear that she didn't have a contactless card, so then he waived her on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted November 19, 2021 Share #1302 Posted November 19, 2021 (edited) Why were the drivers acting like it came out of their own pockets ? Were some clown bean-counters at the depot yelling at them for not collecting OMNY fares through some other means when the OMNY devices were broken ? Edited November 19, 2021 by Amtrak41 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 19, 2021 Share #1303 Posted November 19, 2021 2 hours ago, Amtrak41 said: Why were the drivers acting like it came out of their own pockets ? Were some clown bean-counters at the depot yelling at them for not collecting OMNY fares through some other means when the OMNY devices were broken ? It's a driver thing. My uncle used to say that he didn't like it when people got on and disrespected his bus. They take it as an insult if you will. Some drivers will allow you to come on with an excuse once, and then the next time they'll tell you to get off. There was a guy that used to get on at my stop on weekends like this. I always found it hilarious because he could've taken the subway, but he had to ride in style and wanted to ride for free. Then he would ask everyone at the stop if they could dip for him. I would like at him like he was nuts. lol 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1304 Posted November 21, 2021 On 11/19/2021 at 4:35 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said: It's a driver thing. My uncle used to say that he didn't like it when people got on and disrespected his bus. They take it as an insult if you will. Some drivers will allow you to come on with an excuse once, and then the next time they'll tell you to get off. There was a guy that used to get on at my stop on weekends like this. I always found it hilarious because he could've taken the subway, but he had to ride in style and wanted to ride for free. Then he would ask everyone at the stop if they could dip for him. I would like at him like he was nuts. lol You'd think with all the assaults, they would not pick arguments when they could avoid it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1305 Posted November 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Amtrak41 said: You'd think with all the assaults, they would not pick arguments when they could avoid it. Some of them don't care, esp. if they are old-timers. It used to be that drivers would have no problem calling the police for fare beating and wouldn't move the bus. I'm not sure what happened along the way, but that happens rarely now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missabassie Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1306 Posted November 21, 2021 (edited) On 11/11/2021 at 3:51 PM, 4 via Mosholu said: I went to my local Walgreens right along Baychester yesterday, and I noticed that they had the One Metro New York contactless cards available there. Since I needed to buy something else other than that earlier, I went to a retail clerk (lets call her Mia*) that somehow knew my mom. She was unusually courteous to me. I later went back there after going to a laundromat along Pitman to dry some clothes, hoping that I would get the card there. Sure enough, I got the card and I went to the retail clerk (lets call him William*) that was there when I came back later. I struggled with asking him about a particular aspect of the card, but he was understanding. He called over his coworker and asked if they can sell it to me. He said no, which he told me. I asked him something like: "Don't you have any special card readers to detect it?" He said something like: "We do not know why we cannot sell it, but it ain't eligible to be sold here." At that point, I am thinking something like: "I should have just seen Mia* while she was at the retail area." I really thought it was strange that it cannot be sold there, when the card that I wanted to get was good for five years - meaning that it was not expired. *I just simply made those names up. I had this problem too. One week ago I finally found an OMNY card at a DuaneReade, went to buy it, the cashier said he couldn't sell it to me because "it wasn't in their system yet", I just walked out. It the thing isn't in your system, why's it on the rack for sale? Ain't seen one since. F***in' useless. Edited November 21, 2021 by Missabassie 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1307 Posted November 21, 2021 7 minutes ago, Missabassie said: I had this problem too. One week ago I finally found an OMNY card at a DuaneReade, went to buy it, the cashier said he couldn't sell it to me because "it wasn't in their system yet", I just walked out. It the thing isn't in your system, why's it on the rack for sale? Ain't seen one since. F***in' useless. Go to 7/11. That's where I got mine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missabassie Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1308 Posted November 21, 2021 17 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: Go to 7/11. That's where I got mine. I check frequently, but they're always out.... I'll find one eventually 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1309 Posted November 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Missabassie said: I check frequently, but they're always out.... I'll find one eventually Crazy.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillAv Posted November 21, 2021 Share #1310 Posted November 21, 2021 6 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: Some of them don't care, esp. if they are old-timers. It used to be that drivers would have no problem calling the police for fare beating and wouldn't move the bus. I'm not sure what happened along the way, but that happens rarely now. It's obvious what happened. I agree with the "old timers" statement. I would add that they're probably furious that it happens, but they're running out the clock and won't do anything to jeopardize that. The people who are looking at 30 years till retirement are more likely to take action at fare beating - but what can they do? I'm sure that the official MTA policy is "bend over and take it" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted December 7, 2021 Share #1311 Posted December 7, 2021 (edited) Is it possible to simply buy a OMNY card off the rack for $5 and put no value on it at the store ? Edited December 7, 2021 by Amtrak41 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 7, 2021 Share #1312 Posted December 7, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Amtrak41 said: Is it possible to simply buy a OMNY card off the rack for $5 and put no value on it at the store ? No, because it has to be activated by the merchant and the only way to do that is by adding cash value on it. Now you can add as little as $1.00 to get it activated (the $5.00 fee is currently non-refundable and is the cost of the OMNY card), be it cash or via credit or debit card, but it's best to use cash. If you use a debit or credit card, you may be charged a surcharge to cover the transaction fee that the merchant has to pay to VISA, Mastercard, AMEX, etc. Whatever cash value you add is immediately available on the OMNY card though. Your OMNY card will also automatically be suspended once your cash value falls below I believe $1.00. This is temporary until you add more cash value to it. Easiest way is by debit or credit card, otherwise you have to go to a merchant if you want to use cash for now, as there are no OMNY vending machines at the moment. There's also a minimum that I believe you have to add esp. if you are paying by a debit or credit card for any refill. It's $1.00. I imagine the gets a discount for the card fee transactions since they do a very high volume, but they don't want to be taking on transactions lower than a $1.00 as it isn't cost effective with the transactions they have to pay, even if they are reduced because of volume. Edited December 7, 2021 by Via Garibaldi 8 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak41 Posted December 8, 2021 Share #1313 Posted December 8, 2021 OK, but one should be able to activate it on your own computer. Peel off a sticker as you would a credit card. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 9, 2021 Share #1314 Posted December 9, 2021 12 hours ago, Amtrak41 said: OK, but one should be able to activate it on your own computer. Peel off a sticker as you would a credit card. That's not the way it works. The merchant has to activate it and only when you add money to it. I tried buying one from a merchant who had a broken scanner to see if I could activate on my own, and they couldn't sell it to me because the card has to be activated in the system by the merchant. Probably some sort of fraud protection the implements. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7LineFan Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1315 Posted December 10, 2021 On 11/16/2021 at 3:04 PM, Via Garibaldi 8 said: Driver has no control over the OMNY reader. I've been on at least three express buses so far recently where the OMNY reader looked fine, but when I went to tap a contactless card, nothing happened, so they were frozen on that screen. The amount of "NOT IN SERVICE" OMNY readers has also been high. I've boarded a good three express buses recently where they were "NOT IN SERVICE" and stayed that way the entire ride. Given that a number of riders were challenged by bus operators for the broken OMNY readers, I've been extremely vocal about what a ridiculous policy the has about OMNY and have made it clear that they should change their asinine policy. Their policy is that if you board and an OMNY reader is broken, they expect you to have a back-up Metrocard because OMNY is just an option to pay for now, but if the reverse happens where the farebox is broken, you aren't expected to have a payment with OMNY, so I made it clear that I think it's a BS policy and I've been filing formal complaints when drivers have harassed me on it. A number of other riders in my group have been doing the same. The drivers have essentially accused them of farebeating and riders' response is to take a seat, and I applaud them. I no longer use a Metrocard with any regularity since I bought an OMNY card and I have no intentions of going back to it, nor should be I forced to either. Ultimately, this is their payment system and it's their problem if their readers are broken. Since I've made a stink, no driver has complained or been confrontational, as they should not be. Now if I board at the first stop and it reads "NOT IN SERVICE" and the driver asks me to come up when it comes on, I'm happy to oblige and have done that a few times now, but I expect to be treated with respect. Don't come at me with the accusations that I'm a fare beater like one driver did when the OMNY reader was frozen. He offered no apology for his rude, unprofessional behavior and just said "oh it isn't working" after calling himself showing me up when I went to tap and nothing happened. Then he had the nerve to call me up to the front, take his contactless card out and attempt to tap as if he showing me something I don't know, so I said yeah it's frozen - I was thinking to myself dude I've been using contactless cards for years now, so this is not new technology despite it seeming new here in the US. It's very popular overseas. Only when nothing happened did he stop with the harassment, so I went and took a seat and filed a formal complaint and that's how I handle it. Been a while since I've been on this site but I found out about this conversation and wanted to comment. Similar thing happened to me about a month ago, on the Q44SBS. I was trying to transfer from the subway and the OMNY reader wouldn't read the transfer. Tried the reader in the back, no dice. Tried the reader in the front, no dice. And then the bus left with me on board. What happens if Eagle Team decides to show up for the first time in like five years? I can't exactly go back and pay at the machine, and it was supposed to be a transfer anyway. The kicker was when I called OMNY support to figure out what went wrong and the first thing they asked me was "How did you pay for that trip?" Come on now... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1316 Posted December 10, 2021 37 minutes ago, 7LineFan said: Been a while since I've been on this site but I found out about this conversation and wanted to comment. Similar thing happened to me about a month ago, on the Q44SBS. I was trying to transfer from the subway and the OMNY reader wouldn't read the transfer. Tried the reader in the back, no dice. Tried the reader in the front, no dice. And then the bus left with me on board. What happens if Eagle Team decides to show up for the first time in like five years? I can't exactly go back and pay at the machine, and it was supposed to be a transfer anyway. The kicker was when I called OMNY support to figure out what went wrong and the first thing they asked me was "How did you pay for that trip?" Come on now... Were the readers on the bus frozen or what? The Eagle Team is supposed to carry readers with them to scan your OMNY card to verify that you paid. I've been hearing about quite a few people lately having issues paying with OMNY and to be honest, I encounter about one broken OMNY reader a week (one free ride a week at $6.75) and I only travel a few times a week to the City. You do the math... lol 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7LineFan Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1317 Posted December 10, 2021 3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: Were the readers on the bus frozen or what? The Eagle Team is supposed to carry readers with them to scan your OMNY card to verify that you paid. I've been hearing about quite a few people lately having issues paying with OMNY and to be honest, I encounter about one broken OMNY reader a week (one free ride a week at $6.75) and I only travel a few times a week to the City. You do the math... lol They didn't look frozen, but they lit up red and read "Tap Again" instead of green with "GO" on them. And then when I checked my OMNY account, no transfer listed. Surprising because my card worked perfectly for the rest of the day before that: subway, bus, a different SBS line. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1318 Posted December 10, 2021 2 minutes ago, 7LineFan said: They didn't look frozen, but they lit up red and read "Tap Again" instead of green with "GO" on them. And then when I checked my OMNY account, no transfer listed. Surprising because my card worked perfectly for the rest of the day before that: subway, bus, a different SBS line. Could've been the bus you were on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7LineFan Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1319 Posted December 10, 2021 6 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: Could've been the bus you were on. Perhaps. But it's just so frustrating because I've had so many problems with the SBS machines on that same route not reading my MetroCard and then me having to pay an extra fare and go through claims to get my money back, so I switch to OMNY to put all of that behind me and then this happens... same crap different farecard. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1320 Posted December 10, 2021 1 minute ago, 7LineFan said: Perhaps. But it's just so frustrating because I've had so many problems with the SBS machines on that same route not reading my MetroCard and then me having to pay an extra fare and go through claims to get my money back, so I switch to OMNY to put all of that behind me and then this happens... same crap different farecard. They clearly aren't maintaining the machines are regularly as they should be. The good news is you can dispute any OMNY charges right online in your OMNY account to get reimbursed if you overpay. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecintel Posted December 10, 2021 Share #1321 Posted December 10, 2021 Hi Everyone, I hope everyone is doing. I was getting excited for next week MTA meeting because they talk about OMNY, Unfortunately they "push back" talking about OMNY till next year January 2022. . I saw that in the COPC book they they regular post. They talk about OMNY next year in Janurary, June, and in December. January Overall Capital Program Stations OMNY June Overall Capital Program Rolling Stock OMNY Security Projects Quarterly Traffic Light Report December Overall Capital Program Integrated Megaprojects OMNY Security Projects Quarterly Traffic Light Report Oh well I guess I will have to wait for one more month! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7LineFan Posted December 11, 2021 Share #1322 Posted December 11, 2021 2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said: They clearly aren't maintaining the machines are regularly as they should be. The good news is you can dispute any OMNY charges right online in your OMNY account to get reimbursed if you overpay. Thankfully it was just a transfer so I didn't lose any money... this time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7-express Posted December 13, 2021 Share #1323 Posted December 13, 2021 Fare capping is coming on 3/1, automatically capping rides in a 1 week period to $33. The pilot runs till the end of June. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/nyregion/omny-nyc-subway-fare-capping.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecintel Posted December 13, 2021 Share #1324 Posted December 13, 2021 17 minutes ago, 7-express said: Fare capping is coming on 3/1, automatically capping rides in a 1 week period to $33. The pilot runs till the end of June. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/nyregion/omny-nyc-subway-fare-capping.html Thanks for the Info :). Great News! I've been waiting for this. Now the only thing is if the OMNY cards are in CVS and Walgreens where I live and that would be great but I think that is coming soon., 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted December 13, 2021 Share #1325 Posted December 13, 2021 1 hour ago, mikecintel said: Thanks for the Info :). Great News! I've been waiting for this. Now the only thing is if the OMNY cards are in CVS and Walgreens where I live and that would be great but I think that is coming soon., I heard from a rider in my group that she saw OMNY cards in a Walgreen's but they could not sell them yet. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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