I’ve written other posts about the virtues of my Apple watch. I never feel alone walking down a street at night knowing that I can summon help. Ditto if I’m home alone and fall. It keeps track of my exercise, although reminding me that I’m sitting too much is annoying. It monitors my heart and cardio fitness. It also tracks the quantity and quality of my sleep. It measures the noise levels around me for potential hearing loss. It shows me the weather and serves as a handy egg timer. It lets me easily answer phone calls without digging in my bag for my phone. I can see messages and email. Of course, it also shows me the time.

The latest delight is pairing my watch with OMNY. It is the contactless fare payment system for public transportation in New York. Eventually, the MetroCard will be phased out like the token. OMNY payment will be the only way fare collection will work. It seems that senior citizens will get a reduced-fare OMNY card. I assume they will tap it on an OMNY reader at the subway turnstile or bus entry door. However, it will still necessitate that you dig out your OMNY card.

But the takeaway here is that holding the face of my watch to an OMNY reader makes getting on a bus or subway so much easier than using any card. You just put the face of the watch to the reader, it reads it and you’re good to go.

And what can I say. It just feels so cool.