The MTA Accessibility team wishes everyone a happy spring as we approach the return of Daylight Savings this weekend and more evening hours of sunlight!

Since the peak of the COVID-19 Omicron wave in New York, customers are again returning to transit, returning to the office, and engaging in leisure activities and travel. Earlier this month, we saw the highest subway ridership since the beginning of the Omicron wave.

Additionally, Metro-North Railroad will be increasing weekday service beginning March 27, responding to an increase in ridership. We look forward to welcoming even more Metro-North customers back to the system.

As a reminder, masks are still required on public transit, including inside stations, even if you are vaccinated. Following mask guidelines is a sign of respect to your fellow riders.

Subway accessibility

Between projects to install elevators at more stations and modernize elevators already in our system, our teams are hard at work improving and increasing accessibility across the subway.

Another accessible station in The Bronx!

Elevator replacement projects

As a reminder, we always have projects underway to replace older elevators in our system for safety and reliability. At 34 St-Penn Station (1/2/3), we are currently wrapping up work on EL215, which serves the 2/3 express platform. When that fully modernized elevator is placed back into service, we will begin work on the two elevators (EL214 and EL216) that serve the uptown and downtown 1 local platforms. These elevators will remain out of service for approximately 6 months. Please note, there is no overnight express service at this station, and all trains stop on the local platform overnight. For accessible overnight travel to Penn Station, please use the nearby 34 St-Penn Station (A/E) station.

We also have elevator replacement projects underway at Grand Central-42 St (4/5/6), Church Ave (2/5), Roosevelt Island (F), Sutphin Blvd-Archer Ave/JFK Airport (E/J/Z), 34 St—Herald Square (B/D/F/M/N/Q/R/W), and Inwood/207 St (A). Each project has its own timeline, and the service implications of an elevator replacement can vary based on the project and station layout. Please check our website for information on elevator replacement projects as well as the elevator and escalator status page for real-time status information when planning your accessible trips.

OMNY for Reduced-Fare customers is coming!

MTA's contactless fare payment system, OMNY, is coming for Reduced-Fare customers this year! If you’d like to be among the first Reduced-Fare customers to make the switch to OMNY, please let us know today. We'll be reaching out throughout the spring with more details on how to make the move to OMNY, and we need to know how to best get in touch with all of our Reduced-Fare customers as we roll out this major change. Should you have any other questions or feedback, you can ask them here.

OMNY fare capping

The MTA recently launched a weekly fare capping pilot for OMNY customers. Under the weekly fare capping program, if you ride subways or local/select buses 12 times within a week (Monday through Sunday), you can ride free for the rest of the week! Learn more about the fare capping pilot on our website.

Access-A-Ride (AAR) updates

A new Assessment Center was opened earlier this month, providing additional availability to our Queens AAR customers. The new center is located at Theradynamics Rehab Management (QU) in Queens Village.

Check out the winter edition of the AAR On the Move newsletter. We are continuing to work to improve service on AAR every day, onboarding new brokers, improving technology and preparing to bring OMNY to AAR customers (more on that next month). In November we saw our highest ever usage of the MY AAR trip planner on the MYmta app. We continue to encourage our customers to book their trips through both these platforms. If you have feedback to share on your experience using MY AAR, please send it our way.