Google Pay Comes to New York’s MTA

Google announced that the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is piloting Google Pay at select locations.

“We’ve been working with transit agencies in more than 30 cities around the world—from London to Singapore to Moscow—to enable Google Pay and simplify how you ride on public transit,” Google’s Prakash Hariramani writes. “Starting May 31, the MTA will enable the ‘pay per ride’ feature on your phone with a public pilot at select subway stations and Staten Island buses. And we continue to work with the MTA to bring more features with Google Maps and Google Assistant to make commuting even easier, no matter your destination.”

Google Pay on MTA is part of OMNY, a contactless fare payment system that lets you tap to pay with a smartphone or credit card at compatible terminals. For the MTA pilot, you’ll be able to use Android Pay on your smartphone to tap to pay at all Staten Island buses and subway stations along the 4-5-6 lines between Grand Central and Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, Google says. The price is the same as with a Metro Card, and you won’t need to unlock your phone to use it.

In addition, Google revealed that all MTA subway riders in New York City can now use Google Assistant’s real-time transit feature as well. This lets you ask Google Assistant such things as, “when is the next train coming?” and the like.

And in the next few weeks, Google Maps will be updated to display which MTA routes accept Google Pay. This feature will also roll out around the world in the next few weeks, including Melbourne’s myki transit system and London’s TfL.