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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We're going to end the show today by having a little bit of fun and trying something different. A game we're calling "What's In the Box?" It's like 20 questions, only collaborative. We will open up the phones right now. If you make it onto the air, you will have a chance to ask up to three yes or no questions, trying to guess what's in the box. I'm going to give you a basic clue to start out.

I have an item, a physical object in this case, and you're going to help your other listeners try to figure out, the other listeners try to figure out what's in the box. The only prize is bragging rights, Who wants to play, you'll get up to three questions when you call in, 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. The item that I have is something new, that can unlock a portal to an entire New York World.

I'll say it again, the item that I have in the box is something new that can unlock a portal to an entire New York World. 212-433-WNYC, if you want to play What's In the Box. You can just get the item if you want, but what you can also do is ask questions, like in the game 20 questions, if you know that, to start to get at it and maybe a caller after you will figure out what's in the box.

Again, the item I have is something new that can unlock a portal to an entire New York World. People are calling up. We're just going to start going through some of the calls real quick. Is that Kate in Queens? I think we have you from a previous call. Hi.

Kate: Yes. Hi. So it's a totally new object, it's not an object that I would have had any encounter within my life in New York previously?

Brian Lehrer: Right. Maybe just very recently, but previously in general, no.

Kate: How many questions can I ask? Please don't count that as a question.

Brian Lehrer: That's good. Very good rule monitoring. You get up to three questions. One of them can be a guess of the object, but it doesn't have to be.

Kate: Does it have a magnetic strip on it?

Brian Lehrer: Karla. I'm asking my producer Karla to help me out on this. Does it have a magnetic strip on it? I think the answer is yes. No. No magnetic strip. No magnetic strip. Sorry, I just got corrected. The answer to that is no. No magnetic strip.

Kate: That's my second question. My third question-- Oh, God. Does it have to do with vaccinations?

Brian Lehrer: It does not have to do with vaccinations. Kate, thank you. You've started to move us toward what this item is? That's three questions down. Julia on Cape Cod, you're on WNYC. Hi, Julia.

Julia: Hello. Does it fit in a pocket?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Julia: Is it a fob, it allows you to use the subway or the train or the buses?

Brian Lehrer: Well, you say a fob. Let's see. Okay, not a fob. Technically, the answer to that question is no. You got one more if you want one.

Julia: How can I help somebody else?

Brian Lehrer: Julia, thank you very much. Jesse, in Westchester. Hi, Jesse. You're hearing where we are so far?

Jesse: I think so. I think I'm stumped but I'm going to go with three questions. It's not a fob, is it metal?

Brian Lehrer: You know what, I'm keeping having to go to my expert here to say if it's metal. I don't think its metal. Gang, is it Metal? We wouldn't call it metal, right? I'm going to say no unless I'm corrected. So keep going, Jesse. No, not metal. It's confirmed.

Jesse: Not metal. Does it open a door?

Brian Lehrer: Does it open a door? Well, the clue was it's something new that can unlock a portal to an entire New York World. I would say, it depends on your definition of a door.

Jesse: Door. How big is the box? [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: It's got to be a yes or no question anyway.

Jesse: Is the box big?

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] No, not by what the standards of what most people would consider big.

Jesse: One last question.

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead.

Jesse: Do I have to pay for it? Do you have to pay for it?

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Jesse, thank you very much. A slight correction, I guess that it's primarily plastic with some metal. I will say that the previous caller was very close to what this is. Kind of described what this does without quite getting it. If that's a clue to what this new thing is that can unlock a portal to an entire New York World, maybe that helps. Barbara on Staten Island, which has none of these. Hi, Barbara.

Barbara: Oh, hello. I'm totally stumped. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: You have a question to ask to try to get at it?

Barbara: Is it a technology?

Brian Lehrer: Yes. I stand corrected on that piece. Staten Island does have it, but not in the way that most of the city does. How about that?

Barbara: Some kind of showers, like what would you call? Brian, I'm stumped.

Brian Lehrer: Barbara, thank you for playing. I'm going to say we're up to, and I haven't been exactly counting, but let's see. We did 3, 3, 3, 3. So 12 questions. We'll just go through two more callers, and then we will reveal if nobody gets it. Heather in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Heather.

Heather: Hi, Brian. Can anyone of any age use it?

Brian Lehrer: Well, I don't think a baby could physically use it. If that's what you're asking.

Heather: No, it was more about like, it's not for 18 and up only. I guess the question is, do you have to be an adult to use this?

Brian Lehrer: No, you do not.

Heather: Does it hold personally identifying information? Does it know if I have it? Does it know it's mine?

Brian Lehrer: You know, that's a pretty tricky question. I would say it can be traced. Depending on how you buy it, it could be traced to you.

Heather: Lastly, does it have anything to do with the Omni system of the MTA?

Brian Lehrer: You got it, Heather.

Heather: [laughs] Yay.

Brian Lehrer: It's the Omni system. Thank you very much. You nailed it, and everybody contributed on your way to it. It's really an Omni card is the thing in the box, but of course, that operates the Omni system. The reason we chose an Omni card is because there's news that the MTA will roll out a fair cap to encourage subway ridership, bringing people back to the subway at this point in the pandemic, starting February 28. After your 12th subway ride, you'll be able to ride for free for the rest of that week, or any week.

There was also a bit of news this week that on Tuesday, February 8, that's Tuesday of this week, subway ridership exceeded 3 million customers for the first time since December 17th of last year. For the last few minutes of the show, we're going to talk about the latest subway news including the state of the Omni system with WNYC and Gothamist transportation reporter Stephen Nessen. Hi, Stephen. Great to have you with us.

Stephen Nessen: Hello, Brian, thanks for having me back.

Brian Lehrer: That was fun. People crept their way to the answer of the OMNY card or the OMNY system. I guess we learned that it has some plastic, some metal in it, and it's not technically considered a fob even though it works in a way that we might use key fobs in other places.

Stephen Nessen: It does have fob-like technology, the RFID inside of it.

Brian Lehrer: Was I write, to the last caller, that because I think it's also true with MetroCard's. If I buy a Metro card with a credit card, and for some reason, I commit a crime or something and they want to trace where I was, where I entered a subway station. If I bought my MetroCard with a credit card, I think they can actually trace everything that I have done with it.

Stephen Nessen: The NYPD can request some data that could link you to a certain station at a certain time, but it's tricky. I know a lot of privacy advocates when OMNY first announced it, raised a lot of questions like this because, with OMNY, it's more directly connected to your credit card. Most people that use it, you can use it as a card like we talked about but you need to put money on it.

Most people used it on their phones or if their credit card has one of those chips in it, you can just tap it and it just automatically gets deducted from your credit card. That's more directly connected but the MTA goes above and beyond to ensure everyone that your data is secured. They're not looking at it, but I'm sure questions will come up in the future about this but they work very hard to ensure that your data is private

Brian Lehrer: I understand it also doesn't expire for a number of years so the permanence adds more personal identifiability. I said to the caller on Staten Island, just to clarify that point, that it exists on Staten Island but not in the same way as in the other boroughs. That's because there are no subways on Staten Island, but, well, these are for the buses too, right?

Stephen Nessen: Yes, it's on all buses and the Staten Island railroad. Don't forget about the Staten Island railroad. It's on all buses and all subway stations. Interesting factoid I got from the MTA because most people they use it, like I said, they use their phone or they use the credit card, they can see where the credit card what bank it's connected to. They identified 163 different countries that have tapped into the system. According to the UN, there's only about 193 recognized countries in the world so still got some pretty good visitors coming here, and every state in the US of course.

Brian Lehrer: Why are they replacing the MetroCard with the OMNY?

Stephen Nessen: Well, like you were talking about with fair capping, I think, first of all, they need to modernize it. Everyone uses their phones and it's so much more flexible than a MetroCard. You can do the fair capping thing, which you couldn't do with the MetroCard. Previously you had to pay upfront for a monthly or a or a weekly unlimited pass and now there's more flexibility. This is a project that has been in the works for a very long time.

Certainly, it was slowed down by the pandemic, but yes, it's a good-- I think also ironically the MTA wanted to get out of the card business the MetroCard, but they are manufacturing OMNY cards as well. They're a little tricky to get ahold of but they do sell them at 711, some independent pharmacies. I just heard from the MTA this week that a new vending machine is being tested. They did a trial run in Tennessee where it's being manufactured that went well. Possibly later this year, early next year, there will be OMNY vending machines in the stations that will eventually replace the MetroCard.

Brian Lehrer: If you use a credit card on the OMNY reader, do you get the free rides after 12 rides still?

Stephen Nessen: Yes, I believe if you're using the same card to tap into OMNY you should get that benefit.

Brian Lehrer: Is OMNY now available on every bus and at ever every subway station? If not, what's the rollout like?

Stephen Nessen: It's every bus, it's every subway station. There are certain places where it's still being rolled out such as for Access-A-Ride users. They still have to pay, they can't use OMNY yet. Metro-North, long island railroad, they're still working on that. At some point, it's all going to be OMNY but right now, it's just subways and buses. They're also trying to work out other things like the student cards, the senior discount cards, things like that. It's a long process but I think the Herculean effort was just getting those readers into the stations and maintaining them.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have any idea how many MetroCards are going to sit in how many dumps until the end of time?

Stephen Nessen: It's a great question, Brian. I don't know what's going to happen with all the MetroCards if they're going to ramp down the ordering and production of them, but I think most folks are going to find OMNY is convenient. I use it myself and it really is nice. When the train pulls in and you're racing to get to it on time, you're not fumbling in your wallet for your MetroCard.

For some reason, I have a really small wallet and everything's hard to get out of it. It's great to just put my phone onto the reader. There is the extra added stress that I need to make sure my phone is always charged when I go out, you can't have a dead phone and use OMNY, but you could still use your credit card I suppose.

Brian Lehrer: We have 10 seconds. What percentage, if they've said, fewer cards are they going to be once they fully go to OMNY because there's still cards involved?

Stephen Nessen: The MetroCard won't be phased out till 2024. All you floppy card lovers, you can still grip them.

Brian Lehrer: There we go with our transportation reporter, Stephen Nessen. Stephen, thanks a lot for helping us play What's in the Box.

Stephen Nessen: Of course. Thank you, Brian. Have a great weekend.

Brian Lehrer: We end today with our first on-air shout-out to our interns for the spring semester. Anna Conkling, Diego Munoz, and Gigi Seckel, welcome to the Brian Lehrer Show team.

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