Travel restrictions on NYC students to ease as MTA replaces student MetroCards with OMNY

Farewell to the student MetroCard.
New York City is phasing out the iconic green-and-white subway passes — distributed to students citywide since 1997 — and replacing them with Student OMNY cards this fall.
Unlike the outgoing student MetroCards, the new passes will let students use trains and buses year-round without time-of-day restrictions. Students will also receive an additional free ride — for four trips per day.
“This new OMNY card, 365 days of the year that they can be used, 24 hours, a real huge win for all those who are going to receive this,” Mayor Adams said at a press conference at Transit Tech Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn. “Every dollar you don’t have to swipe — or is it tap now? — is a dollar that won’t be tapped out of your pocket.”
Student MetroCards previously offered three free rides on days school was in session, between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. That left older students responsible for picking up their younger siblings stranded, and teens participating in weekend teams and clubs or summer jobs struggling to get around the five boroughs.
The OMNY cards will do away with the school day and hour restrictions, and add an extra ride each day. Students who live close to school will continue to be ineligible for the new passes.
While physical cards will be distributed to students this fall, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said he expects to fully transition to OMNY on cell phones by the 2025-26 school year.
“Students do lose MetroCards, we know that,” Lieber said. “But one thing they don’t lose: their phones.”
Malik Innis, a rising senior at Transit Tech, is a student-athlete with football games over the weekend, when he’s currently unable to travel for free. The changes will also help Innis with a lengthy commute.
“I have to transfer from the bus to the train, back to the train to the bus, and only having the ability to use the card three times is not enough. That one extra time would get me that last trip to get home,” he said.
Local officials said the changes will provide a foundation for New York City students to learn how to use the public transit system and “build a culture of tapping,” according to a press release. Lieber said the transit system recently passed a milestone where about 50% of riders on the subways and buses are using OMNY.
“We have not set a date when we’re going to phase MetroCard out entirely,” Lieber said. “That date will be coming.”