NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Organizers behind the city’s Fair Fares program fear that the amount of funding it’s receiving this fiscal year won’t be enough to meet rising demands.
Half priced MTA cards are essential for some riders, especially low-income essential workers, who use the subways and buses to get to hospitals, police stations, fire houses and more.
The Fair Fares program provides them with half-priced MetroCards but, this year, the funding for the program has been cut in half, meaning getting a MetroCard through the program will likely be more difficult this year.
“I’m $2.75 a ride doesn’t seem like much if you’ve got resources, but $5 a day, day after day, can become a real deal breaker,” says David Jones, president of the Community Service Society – which helped start the Fair Fares program.
Although the program received more city funding than it did last year, Jones is concerned it still won’t be enough since ridership is going up even more and more New Yorkers are facing financial hardships.
“I just want this, essentially…in this year, make sure we can get enough resources in case of a shortfall but, in future years, I think this has to be baseline by the city of New York. It shouldn't be a crisis every year,” Jones said.
He says the city has been compliant in the organization’s effort to boost funding and notes that the Community Service Society will closely monitor the situation before the end of the fiscal year.
“I don't want to have a crisis emerge where the city runs out of its allocations and says, ‘Well the coverage is fair, we have to cut off enrollment,’” he said. “That’s particularly terrible.”
In a statement, the City Council said Fair Fares is a priority and with more enrollment in the program, the budget will be adjusted.
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