Who Really Profited From the MTA’s Move From MetroCard to OMNY?

The MTA's massive transition from the MetroCard to the OMNY contactless fare system represents one of New York's biggest infrastructure projects in years—nearly a billion dollars directed toward private contractors. What's less visible is the money flowing in the opposite direction, from those same contractors and their private equity owners straight to politicians who oversee the MTA.

The Deal Gets Messy

The story begins reasonably enough. In 2017, the MTA awarded Cubic Transportation Systems a $539.5 million base contract to design and roll out the new system. But by 2024, the deal had ballooned to $772 million, and the MTA was forced to publicly demote Cubic from critical commuter rail integration work.

Why? Years of missed deadlines, technical failures, and broken promises. Cubic promised cash-accepting vending machines at 1,720 subway stations. It delivered 37. The company said it could integrate OMNY into commuter rail by 2021. A senior MTA official said executives departed after Cubic's 2021 acquisition, "taking decades of expertise and experience with them."

Follow the Money Back

Here's where things get interesting: Cubic isn't just some distant contractor anymore. In May 2021, private equity firms Veritas Capital and Elliott Investment Management's Evergreen Coast Capital took Cubic private for roughly $3 billion. These aren't mom-and-pop shops. Veritas Capital manages $54 billion in assets, with a specific focus on "technology and government solutions." Elliott Management—whose founder Paul Singer is a New York City resident and one of the nation's largest Republican donors—operates as a major activist investor.

After the acquisition, the connection between these contractors and New York politics becomes measurable.

Elliott Management and its principals have donated heavily to federal politicians, channeling $1.58 million to federal candidates in 2024, with 76% flowing to Republicans. Singer himself has become a mega-donor to the GOP, contributing over $42 million to Republican causes since 2024, including $5 million to Trump's primary Super PAC.

But the real political story may lie at the state level—and here's where transparency breaks down.

The State-Level Black Hole

While federal campaign finance records are public and searchable through the FEC, New York State campaign contributions operate under a different system that's far harder to track. The New York State Board of Elections maintains contribution records, but they're not comprehensively indexed online the way federal data is.

What we do know: Veritas Capital, which now owns controlling interest in Cubic, donated $1.71 million in federal contributions in 2024, showing a bipartisan tilt (60% Democrat, 40% Republican). Its top recipients included Kamala Harris, Lincoln Project, and Democratic candidates across competitive districts. This suggests a firmer political hedge than Elliott's hard-right positioning.

Neither the MTA nor press accounts have disclosed whether Cubic's private equity owners—or the contractors themselves—have donated to New York state politicians or gubernatorial campaigns. No disclosures reveal whether these firms lobbied Albany officials overseeing the MTA. The gap is telling.

The Bigger Picture

This isn't just about Cubic. After publicly demoting the company in May 2024, the MTA awarded contracts worth $97 million to Masabi (a UK firm handling commuter rail integration) and $70.6 million to Scheidt & Bachmann USA (a longtime contractor managing railroad ticket machines).

These contracts represent real jobs and real expertise—but they also represent real dollars flowing from public coffers to private shareholders, often with minimal competitive bidding and limited public scrutiny of political ties.

The MTA justified Scheidt & Bachmann's non-competitive sole-source contract by citing its 24-year track record and the impossibility of meeting 2025 deadlines through competitive procurement. Fair enough. But it raises questions: Who benefits when emergency timelines bypass competitive bidding? Are there easier contracts to secure with political backing?

What We Don't Know

That's the frustration for riders and taxpayers trying to follow this money trail. While federal disclosures show major donations from entities like Elliott Management and Veritas Capital, state-level contributions remain obscured. No comprehensive database tracks whether Cubic, Veritas, Elliott, Masabi, or Scheidt & Bachmann have donated to New York governors, state senators, assembly members, or the mayor who appoints MTA board members.

The MTA's own procurement practices have faced criticism for limited transparency. As one transportation advocate noted years ago, the agency "should continue to be more transparent with its own Board, elected officials, riders, taxpayers and transportation advocates" on capital procurements.

The Bottom Line

New York's transition from MetroCard to OMNY is meant to modernize how millions of riders pay for transit. It's a genuine public good—when it works. But the $900-million-plus flowing to private contractors, combined with the murky political relationships shaping these deals, deserves sunlight.

Cubic's failures have cost the MTA credibility. The question now is whether New York's political system will ever require the same transparency about political contributions that governs federal campaigns. Without it, the OMNY saga will keep looking less like a technology story and more like a case study in how public infrastructure dollars and political influence work in tandem—away from public view.

Justin Ramirez