Been running the numbers since my office went hybrid (three days in, two remote) and I keep going back and forth. I’m in College Point, so it’s bus to Flushing then the 7 to Midtown. I used to have a monthly unlimited and never thought about it. Now I’m tapping OMNY and the free rides after 12 paid taps in a week only kicks in if I’m actually going out on weekends.

Some weeks I’m under, some weeks I’m over. Does anyone else track this? Are you better off with the 30-day unlimited or just eating the weekly rollover? And yes, I know the express bus changes the math completely if I ever take the QM2 or something.

Wait, I didn’t know OMNY had a free rides cap! I thought it was just pay-per-ride forever. So if I tap 12 times from Monday to Sunday I stop paying? That might actually be good for me because I work in Crown Heights and mostly go to Manhattan twice a week plus random errands.

How do you check how many taps you’ve done? Is it in an app or do I just guess? Also sorry if this is dumb but does the bus transfer still count as one ride or is that a second tap?

Oh man this is my favorite rabbit hole!!! The 12-tap cap is not a monthly unlimited replacement for everyone, but for hybrid it is honestly slept on!! The key people miss is the 7-day cap resets every Monday, not rolling seven days. So if your office days are Monday/Wednesday/Friday and you don’t go out on weekends, you may not hit 12 taps most weeks. But if you commute three days plus two evening plans, you suddenly get Sunday free.

Have you tried using the OMNY account dashboard? It tells you how many paid taps you have toward the current cap and whether you’ve hit free rides. Also the express bus cap is separate! If you take an express bus once, it counts differently toward the cap. Check the 'taps to go' screen on the reader! It saved me from buying another monthly.

CluelessInCrownHeights, the transfer still taps but I think the second tap is free if it’s within the window. At least that’s how it shows on my account. RiverdaleRambler is right about the Monday reset, that’s the part I kept getting wrong. I was counting rolling week.

It’s a bit like that thread Party of 8 near Lincoln Center with vegan, low-FODMAP, fish-only, and a cane: Party of 8 near Lincoln Center with vegan, low-FODMAP, fish-only, and a cane — once you have enough constraints, the right answer is to build a custom plan, not just pick the default.

For me that means I use OMNY on normal weeks and only grab the 30-day when I have jury duty or a stretch with a lot of evening stuff. Still annoying we have to think this hard just to not overpay.

Thanks, that makes sense! I checked my account and apparently I hit the cap last week without noticing. That explains why my Sunday trip wasn’t charged. I got a little too excited about it lol.

So if I start a new job in Manhattan with three days in office, should I just stick with OMNY? Or is the weekly unlimited ever better for the week I know I’m going out every night? I like the idea of not pre-paying because my plans always fall apart.

The weekly unlimited is basically dead to me unless you’re doing more than 12 paid taps before the free rides kick in, which yes, some weeks you might. The thing people don’t realize is the cap only helps if you actually hit it—otherwise you’re paying for rides you don’t take!

Have you checked if your bus-to-subway transfer counts as a paid tap every time? I bring this up because a friend in Riverdale kept thinking he had 12 taps when he had 10 because two were free transfers. The reader display is your friend!! Press the little screen? I forget the exact button, but it shows something like 'paid rides toward free trips'. Also if you ever take the Hudson Rail Link or PATH, that’s separate, don’t include those.

That Hudson Rail Link note is the exact kind of gotcha this board needs. I almost counted a Metro-North transfer once and would’ve been mad when the cap didn’t move.

For the original question, I lean OMNY for most people unless your commute has a lot of daily errands. My rule: if I know I’m going to tap more than twice a weekday and at least once on both weekend days, I check the dashboard on Monday and decide. Some weeks I just buy the 7-day, but I hate doing that because if I get sick or work from home, I burned it. Also Clueless, the weekly unlimited isn’t refundable and the OMNY cap is automatic, so no brainer for people with flaky plans.

Update: I just tried the 'taps to go' thing on the little screen at the station and now I can’t stop checking it lol. It said I had 4 more paid taps to go before free rides on Sunday. That actually helped me decide to go to my friend’s place in Astoria instead of skipping it because I was 'saving money.'

This is kind of fun? Is it bad that I’m planning errands around free rides? Also does the cap count taps on the Select Bus Service receipt things? My roommate said you have to tap the door readers and the sidewalk kiosk, but I only tapped the kiosk.

CluelessInCrownHeights, yes your bus tap counts toward the same 12! The SBS thing trips everyone up. For regular local buses and SBS with OMNY, you tap when you board. On SBS you do not need to tap the curbside kiosk if you’re using OMNY—the door readers are the real ones. The kiosk gives a paper receipt for people paying with coins or old cards.

If you only tapped the kiosk, you might have been riding without a valid OMNY payment on the bus portion, and that tap likely didn’t count toward your cap because it’s just a receipt. Please go back and look at your OMNY account activity! If there’s no bus charge for those trips, that’s your answer.

And yes, a bus plus a subway is two paid taps unless the transfer window makes the second one free. The free transfer still doesn’t add a paid tap, but it does mean you aren’t paying extra for the same trip. This is exactly why OMNY is better than the old unlimited for a lot of people—you pay for what you actually ride, not what you hope to ride!

I’ll add one more thing for the thread: if your three office days are not consecutive and you work late, the free ride after 12 taps can start on Thursday night and then the rest of Friday plus Saturday errands are free. That’s when it beats my old monthly.

But the opposite is also true: a week with two holidays and one in-office day, I paid maybe six taps and still had to eat breakfast at home to feel better about it. This is all more math than I ever wanted to do for a commute, but I’d rather do this than hand over money for a monthly I use half of.

Also Riverdale, didn’t know SBS had gotten that confusing. A receipt machine that doesn’t count? Classic MTA.

Thank you RiverdaleRambler! I checked and you’re right, the bus trip wasn’t on my OMNY. I was basically just buying a paper receipt and then also paying for the train. That is such a rip-off but I’m glad I know now.

I’m going to tap the door reader tomorrow and maybe hit the cap earlier than I thought. This forum has saved me actual money already. CollegePoint_C, I also like the part about not pre-paying because my schedule changes too much. I think I’m officially done with the monthly card.

Yes!! That’s the spirit! The monthly card is a comfort blanket for people who don’t want to think, but the OMNY cap basically rewards you for knowing your week.

One more niche thing for this thread: if you’re doing a bus-to-subway commute twice a day three days a week, that’s six paid taps for the commute alone if transfers are free. Add one weekend round trip with a friend and you’re at eight. Still under the cap! This is why CollegePoint_C’s point about checking Monday is so important.

Have you all tried setting a weekly calendar reminder Sunday night to glance at ‘rides to free trips’? It takes ten seconds and tells you whether to add a Sunday errand or not. I used to buy the 7-day unlimited every single week until I did that. Never again!