Say goodbye to swiping: New York City MTA riders will be able tap into the subway with Apple Pay as soon as this summer
- Apple Pay is slated to arrive for NYC subway and bus riders in early summer
- Users will be able to enter the subway with a contactless card or digital wallet
- The MTA, which boasts millions of riders each day, should help boost Apple Pay
Swiping into the subway is about to get much easier.
Apple is bringing its contactless payment method, Apple Pay, to New York City‘s transit system in early summer, CEO Tim Cook revealed in an earnings call with investors.
Once it goes into effect, users will be able to replace their pesky MetroCard with an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for their subway ride.
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Apple is bringing its contactless payment method, Apple Pay, to New York City’s transit system in early summer, CEO Tim Cook revealed in an earnings call with investors
‘More and more transit systems are accepting Apple Pay and New York’s MTA system will begin the roll-out in early summer,’ Cook told investors.
‘As we’ve seen in places like London, Tokyo, and Shanghai, contactless entry into transit systems helps to spur broader Apple Pay adoption and we believe this will get even more people using Apple Pay in the United States.’
Bringing Apple Pay transit to the MTA, which boasts millions of riders each day, will likely help boost consumer adoption of the contactless payment system.
In March, the company had said Apple Pay would launch for public transportation systems in NYC, Portland and Chicago, closer to the end of the year, so the new timeline is sooner than expected.
Cook didn’t say which lines would be covered by Apple Pay, but the MTA previously announced parts of the 4, 5 and 6 subway lines, as well as Staten Island buses would have the tap-to-pay systems installed.
The MTA’s contactless payment readers, called OMNY, are expected to begin rolling out May 31st.
Pictured is the tap-to-pay card reader system rolling out to the MTA, called OMNY. As of May 31st, the readers will be installed on part of the 4, 5 and 6 subway lines and Staten Island buses
With the new contactless payment system, riders can pay to enter a bus or subway using a contactless card issued through their bank or a digital wallet app installed on a smart device
Riders can pay to enter a bus or subway using a contactless card issued through their bank, as well as a digital wallet app installed on a smart device, such as a smartwatch or smartphone.
It’s likely that, in addition to Apple Pay, OMNY will also accept other digital wallet apps like Android Pay and Samsung Pay.
The MTA expects to roll out OMNY fully by 2020 and, up until 2023, riders can still enter the subway with swipe-based MetroCards.
In addition to select cities in the U.S., Apple Pay transit is also accepted in Canada, Singapore, China, Japan, Russia and London.
It comes as Apple recently revamped its digital wallet app and launched a credit card.
The titanium credit card, called Apple Card, is slated to arrive this summer.