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CTS to expand contactless in NYC

Payment options will include a mobile app, digital wallets and tap-in bank cards 
By Ben Spencer February 9, 2021 Read time: 1 min
CTS says OMNY is to provide customers 24/7 self-service options for managing accounts (© Joseph Perone | Dreamstime.com)

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has been awarded a $39 million contract to upgrade the fare payment system for Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad in New York.

This contract expands phase four of the OMNY (One Metro New York) contract with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) to upgrade legacy systems to a new account-based contactless fare payment system for transit, bus and railroads.

For phase four, CTS is to install vending machines and ticket office machines for travel on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. 

Once deployed, riders will have access to an account-based, fare payment system, enabling the use of payment options associated with OMNY, such as a mobile app, digital wallets, contactless bank cards and MTA-issued contactless transit cards.

When completed, OMNY is to provide customers with 24/7 self-service options for managing their accounts and options to purchase and reload fares online, at local retailers and at the railroads and New York City transit stations. 

CTS, whose parent company Cubic Corporation is being sold to private equity investors for $2.8bn, was selected in 2017 to design and build the OMNY system for NYMTA.

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