BY LINDA CHAN | news@queensledger.com
For New York City public schoolers who need to replace their lost or malfunctioning student transit cards — and there are many — the process can feel like a throw of the dice.
“One of my friends was able to get a replacement the day right after they requested it, because the school happened to have OMNY cards in stock,” said Julia, a rising junior at the Bronx High School of Science. “But when I requested mine, I waited about a month for my replacement to come.”
The current student OMNY system offers eligible students four rides a day, seven days a week, and at any time. The cards are valid from the beginning of the school year in September until the last day of August in the next year.
While this is a major upgrade from the previous student MetroCards, which only allowed three rides per school day from Monday through Friday between 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., many students and advocates argue that it is still far from enough.
Advocates at Riders Alliance, a non-profit who self proclaims they are “fighting for better transit for all New Yorkers,” have commented that while the “student OMNY as a policy is a big improvement over the previous system,” it does not work for all students the same way flawlessly, so a “more durable option would be a big help.”
The old MetroCards, made from thin plastic, were equally prone to being misplaced. But the MTA’s shift in September 2024 to the new system, OMNY, has brought its own unique headaches: Across dozens of interviews, students complained of paper cards disintegrating in the rain, or ceasing to work abruptly.
In the first three months of the 2025–26 school year, for example, Stuyvesant High School received 528 replacement forms, per a City Council hearing earlier this spring. Over half of them, 284, were due to malfunctions.
Now the DOE and MTA are experimenting with a possible solution: going digital.
Seven schools have been identified to participate in the initial rollout of digital cards as part of a pilot program. The DOE has remained tight-lipped about the initiative, but a spokesperson said more details would be released once testing is completed.
Many students reacted positively to the potential shift.
“Since I constantly use my phone throughout the day, a digital OMNY card will make it less of a hassle in case I forget the physical card,” said Sylvia, a rising senior from Bronx Science.
“I’d choose digital for convenience to prevent the risk of losing the physical card,” agreed Jamisha, a rising senior at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. “Paper is not durable at all — it’s very flimsy, and that’s not good.”
Some students have taken efforts to laminate their cards, despite being highly discouraged by school administrators. While the lamination can cause heat damage, which interferes with the OMNY card readers, this has become the only way for some students to protect their fragile cards.
Cubic Transportation Systems Corp., the manufacturer of OMNY cards, did not respond to a request for comment regarding the reason behind making student the cards paper instead of a more durable material.
Yet other students say that even though the paper cards’ quality is unreliable, they would still prefer them over the digital option.
“I think I would still want the physical card because it will be easier for me, and I don’t have to worry about my phone dying or having problems,” said Angela, a rising junior at Flushing High School.
“My phone would usually be dead before I get home, so having a digital one would be kind of hard to manage in that case,” added Quin-Niya, a rising junior at the Young Women’s Leadership School of the Bronx. “I would stick to the physical card.”
To some transit advocates, including Riders Alliance, the answer to the debate seems simple: Why not offer both physical and digital cards?
“It’s no secret that the transition has been long and windy, but most people are using OMNY and complaints have lessened,” a spokesperson for the group said. “Students and their families should have both options available.”
