MTA moves forward with mobile ticketing system

The MTA’s new mobile ticketing system that will replace railroad tickets and MetroCards will start to roll out in June of this year for the LIRR and Metro-North and begin on subways and buses in June 2017.

Using their smartphones, commuters will be able to purchase tickets through an app and use their phones to ride. Both Apple and Android phones will be able to run the app.

But mobile ticketing will only be available at selected LIRR and Metro-North stations until the end of this year.

For New York City subway and bus commuters,a non-swipe card system to replace Metrocards will start in June 2018, moved ahead from prior plans to begin in mid-2020.

The non-swipe cards will operate with a magnetic chip inside, similar to the SmartLink cards that are used at the PATH train.

In other MTA developments, construction of the 72nd Street subway station along the Second Avenue Subway line has fallen behind by three to four weeks and is at risk of impacting the date that the line will open.

The MTA requested that the contractor, Judlau, add more workers on the station project in order to accelerate progress at the station but the contractor has so far failed to comply.

Several members of the MTA board expressed frustration over Judlau’s design schedule at an MTA board meeting Monday. Michael Horodniceanu, the president of MTA Capital Construction, threatened that he and other MTA members would oppose awarding future contracts to Judlau if they fail to meet their target.

Judlau, which is also contracted with other MTA projects, did not respond to a request for comment by reporting time.

The MTA also announced that it would increase service on the No. 2 line during the weekends due to substantial ridership growth.

The No. 2 line will get 31 extra round trips Saturdays and 18 additional round trips Sundays. The additional service is expected to serve riders of the No. 5 line, which shares many stops with the No. 2 in Bronx and Brooklyn but does run in Brooklyn on weekends.

“We always want to better serve our customers by strengthening service whenever we have sustainable resources to do so, but we also must balance providing that service with the critical maintenance work we need to run trains safely,” said MTA NYC Transit President Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim.