PANYNJ expands tap-and-go fare option to all PATH stations

May 24, 2024

TAPP, which was first introduced in 2023, is an open-loop contactless payment system that allows riders to use their own preferred method of contactless payment instead of a specific PATH-issued SmartLink card or a pay-per-ride MetroCard.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has successfully expanded PATH’s new contactless fare payment system, Total Access PATH Payment (TAPP), at all stations systemwide in both New York and New Jersey, including the activation of new TAPP readers at the Christopher St. and 9 St. stations.

PANYNJ says that as PATH adds more TAPP readers, turnstiles at all stations will continue to accept TAPP, SmartLink and MetroCards as fare payment.

With the installation and activation of TAPP readers at the Christopher St. and 9 St. stations, riders at all New York stations can now pay for PATH rides using any contactless credit/debit card or a digital wallet on their smartphones. PATH installed TAPP readers at the 14 St. and 23 St. stations in Manhattan earlier this month and all PATH stations in New Jersey were outfitted in April. Existing PATH discounts for SmartLink users remain in effect and will be available when PATH issues a TAPP fare card.

"Thousands of PATH riders so far have experienced the ease of tap-and-go to travel between New York and New Jersey and we encourage more customers to try using their own credit or debit card or their smartphone,” said PANYNJ Executive Director Rick Cotton. “We are thrilled that riders no longer have to stand in lines to top up their SmartLink or MetroCards because their PATH fare payment of choice is already in their own hand.”

PANYNJ introduced the new contactless fare system in December 2023 during a pilot program at the Journal Square and 33 St. stations. Currently, almost 120 PATH turnstiles now are TAPP-enabled. The authority notes that so far, riders have TAPPed into the system nearly 5 million times, with an average of nearly 70,000 weekday riders and more than 40,000 weekend riders using TAPP.

Equipment supporting both SmartLink and MetroCard as PATH fare payment remains operational as more customers adopt TAPP as their preferred payment method and PATH continues to phase in the remaining turnstiles systemwide with TAPP-enabled technology. The system has a total of 341 active turnstiles.

PATH’s rollout of its new modern fare payment system comes as the ridership on the railroad returns from the the COVID-19 pandemic.