Wednesday, February 8, 2023

When Will The MTA's OMNY Payment System Be Installed At The Roosevelt Island Tram Stations? MTA Chair Janno Lieber Tells Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright Software Problems Delay RI OMNY Installation To Second Half Of 2023

In July of 2022 I reported on a "Bring OMNY To The Roosevelt Island Tram" online petition which garnered 1404 signatures

and:

... Last March, NYC Council Member Julie Menin told me that the MTA and Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) assured her that the OMNY payment system will be installed on the Roosevelt Island Tram within this year....

But that was not to be.

Roosevelt Island residents were told during the December 22, 2022 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board Of Directors Meeting by RIOC General Counsel Gretchen Robinson that the OMNY payment system installation on the Tram would be delayed until, hopefully, the 2nd quarter of 2023.

  

This week we learned that the Roosevelt Island Tram OMNY installation will be delayed past the 2nd quarter of 2023.

During the February 6, 2023 NY State Senate Joint Public Hearing on the 2023-24 Executive Budget Proposal, Roosevelt Island's NY State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright asked MTA Chair Janno Lieber:

The Roosevelt Island Tramway still continues to lack OMNY. Can you tell us why this has been delayed and when you expect it to be installed so that our Roosevelt Island residents and visitors can benefit from this service?

Mr Janno replied: 

The answer is it's projected to happen in the second half of this year... ... We didn't have software in some of the specialty locations like Roosevelt Island Tram, the Air Train in Jamaica Station and a few other places. The software has to catch up and we are working on it but that right now the projection it's going to be the scond half of this year....

Yesterday, I asked Ms Seawright:

Thank you for asking the MTA Chair Janno Lieber about when the OMNY payment system will be installed on the Roosevelt Island Tram and why it has been delayed.

Mr Lieber said OMNY is projected to be installed on the Tram in the second half of the year which is another in a long line of delays. He blamed software and vendor delays as the reason for OMNY not being installed on the Tram.

He did not say anything about issues agreeing to a new revenue sharing arrangement with RIOC which RIOC has previously said was an obstacle with the MTA to install OMNY on the Tram. Mr Janno said he "would be happy to get in a specific dialogue with you".

Can you ask him if there are any issues other than software and vendor problems to installing OMNY on the Tram and specifically including any issue agreeing to a revenue sharing arrangement with RIOC for payment by riders using OMNY on the Tram as well as transfers from the Tram to the subway and bus.

Ms Seawright replied:

At yesterday’s legislative hearing in Albany, I asked MTA Chair Janno Lieber about the effort to enable OMNY card holders to use their cards to transfer onto or off the Roosevelt Island Tram — because the long delay in implementing this capability is simply unacceptable. We need better answers from the agency officials responsible. I’ll be following up to press for solutions that get us past inter-agency squabbling and instead address the needs of Roosevelt Island residents and New York City riders.

Roosevelt Island has been waiting for the MTA OMNY payment system to be installed at the Roosevelt Island Tram stations as far back as 2020. 

Former RIOC Chief Financial Officer spoke to Manhattan Community Board 8 in September 2021 about efforts to get the OMNY system installed at the Roosevelt Island Tram

 

and during a June 8, 2022 RIOC audit committee meeting (at 7 minute mark), CFO O'Reilly reported that RIOC receives only $2.00 of the $2.75 Roosevelt Island Tram fare.

On February 18, 2022, a MTA spokesperson responded to my inquiry saying:

The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an essential part of the city’s transit network and it has been the MTA’s plan to have OMNY available to everyone including riders of the tramway by integrating the contactless payment system to help New Yorkers and visitors travel to and from Roosevelt Island. The MTA is thrilled that our transit partners at the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) want to join the OMNY team and we are working with them to offer OMNY to those who use the Tramway.

In November 2022 a MTA spokesperson added:

The Roosevelt Island tram will be integrated with OMNY sometime in 2023. The MTA is building out OMNY functionality for New York City Transit first, before addressing other agencies, however we look forward to welcoming tram riders to OMNY next year.

Over the last several years, the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse comments on the lack of OMNY at the Tram.

UPDATE 2/9 -  On February 7, I followed up on a November 28, 2022 email inquiry to RIOC President Shelton Haynes and Communications Assistant Vice President Akeem Jamal about the status of OMNY installation on the Roosevelt Island Tram. I asked:
I am following up on email below regarding installation of MTA OMNY system on the Roosevelt Island Tram.

When do you anticipate the OMNY system to be installed on the Roosevelt Island Tram?

What is the reason for the long delay?

Former RIOC CFO John O'Reilly has reported that a reason for the delay installing OMNY on the Roosevelt Island Tram is because RIOC and the MTA have not reached an agreement on a revenue sharing arrangement for payment by riders using the Tram and switching from the Tram to the subway or bus.

Is that true?

Does RIOC have any comment to the Roosevelt Island community on installing OMNY at the Roosevelt Island Tram?
There has been no response from RIOC about the status of OMNY installation on the Tram, continuing the practice of Mr Haynes and Mr Jamal in refusing to answer questions by local press in order for RIOC to:
... Control the narrative...
as told to me by Mr Jamal in a brief conversation several months ago.

By ROOSEVELT ISLANDER at 8:51:00 PM

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