NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- New York City should increase the number of residents who qualify for half-price subway and bus fares to make the transit system more affordable for lower-income riders, a financial watchdog group advises.
The city should broaden the program, called Fair Fares, to allow more residents to receive a 50% discount on subways and buses, according to a report from the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit think tank that analyzes city and state spending. Right now a family of four making up to $49,500 is eligible for half-priced transit fares. The CBC is suggesting an increase that would raise that salary limit to $82,500.
The proposal would bring an additional 722,000 New Yorkers into the program, expanding it to nearly 2 million eligible residents, or one out of four working adults, according to the report. New York City’s transit system is the nation’s largest, enabling many residents to live without the expense of a car. Still, New Yorkers like many across the country are taking a financial hit from higher prices on food, clothing and household items.
“This is a way we can improve affordability for a reasonable cost and really help them not only lower their household costs, but participate more actively and easily in the labor market,” Andrew Rein, CBC’s president, said about working families that are currently ineligible for the Fair Fares program.
Fair Fares currently limits half-priced fares for those making up to 150% of the federal poverty level; the CBC’s proposal would expand that to those earning up to 250% of the poverty level.
Public transportation advocates and civic organizations have also supported the city’s reduced transit fare initiative.
The proposal would cost $146 million per year, bringing the total annual expense of the Fair Fares program to $232 million, according to the CBC.
Still, it’s cheaper than Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make all of the city’s buses free, which would eliminate more than $900 million of bus fare revenue each year, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. That money goes into the operating budget of the MTA, a state agency that oversees the city’s subway, bus and commuter rail lines, and helps to repay $16 billion of farebox debt.
MTA officials have long called for elected officials to expand the Fair Fares program to increase participation and to better promote it so that residents who are eligible can take advantage of the program.
While it’s the MTA and state lawmakers’ decision, Mamdani continues to push for no-fare buses. Last month, he hired Elizabeth Adams, a former advocate for safer streets in the city, to serve as his senior adviser for his Fast and Free Buses initiative. Before joining Mamdani’s administration, Adams was the deputy executive director for public affairs at Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that advocates for fewer cars in the city.
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