The MTA plans to begin testing out a “virtual” reloadable OMNY card that New Yorkers can keep on their smartphones later this year.
The option could make life easier for transit riders who rely on physical cards to pay their fares. The virtual cards could particularly help students in the city who rely on flimsy paper OMNY cards that give them four free rides a day during the school year. Parents and students have complained those cards break too easily and are difficult to replace.
Shanifah Rieara, senior adviser for communications and policy for the MTA, said last week that the transit agency would distribute plastic sleeves for students in the interim ahead of the school year to protect their paper cards…