Transit advocates and local elected officials are once again urging Mayor Adams to increase the eligibility criteria for a city program that provides discounted subway and bus rides to lower-income New Yorkers. 

NYC Council Pushes $55M Fair Fares Expansion

The City Council is advocating for a significant $55 million expansion of a program that provides half-price transit fares for low-income New Yorkers. This comes at a time when fare evasion rates are on the rise.

That would result in an additional 650,000 individuals being eligible for the Fair Fares program.

According to New York Daily News via MSN, the eligibility is linked to the federal poverty level, which the government revises annually. 

However, there is a consensus among advocates and transit officials that the current nation-wide poverty benchmark does not accurately reflect the high cost of living in New York City.

At the start of the program in 2019, individuals who earned 100% of the federal poverty level or below were considered eligible. This translated to a yearly income of less than $25,750 for a family of four.

Last year, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and transit advocates worked hard to increase the threshold for a four-person household from the poverty line, which was previously $30,000 a year, to twice that amount.

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Fair Fares Program Raises Income Threshold for Eligibility

To qualify for the program at this time, applicants must have an income that is 120% of the federal poverty level or lower. The expansion would double that number in just one year, following a previous increase New York Post reported.

Despite the high hopes placed on Fair Fares when it was launched in 2019, the program has not been effective in curbing fare evasion.

In 2022 alone, a staggering amount of revenue, close to $700 million, was lost due to fare evasion.  The 2023 PCAC report on fare evasion revealed significant losses in various transportation fares. 

These losses amounted to $315 million in bus fares, $285 million in subway fares, $46 million in bridge and tunnel tolls, and $44 million in railroad fares.

According to the same report, a significant number of fare evaders are easily bypassing the system by using the emergency exit gates. 

An additional 20% of individuals who do not pay their fare find alternative ways to bypass the turnstile.

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