Free transit fares are on the table in the city’s ongoing budget negotiation.
As part of an elaborate back-and-forth budget process between the New York City Council and the mayor’s office, the council sent a proposal that would expand “Fair Fares,” a city-run program that currently offers half-price NYC transit rides to residents making less than 150% of the federal poverty line.
This would eliminate the fare entirely for the 370,000 people enrolled.
“Fair Fares has been a lifeline for working New Yorkers, providing eligible riders with discounted access to one of our city’s greatest assets: our transit system,” Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote in a statement.
“The Council is making a significant Fair Fares expansion among our top priorities in a budget that is fiscally responsible and invests directly in New Yorkers.”
The expansion of Fair Fares is part of the City Council’s formal response to the mayor’s preliminary budget and is the third step in a five-step reconciliation process.
Step one of the process took place in January, shortly after Mamdani took office and revealed a massive $12 billion budget deficit that he framed as the “Adams Budget Crisis,” claiming the deficit is due to mismanagement by the previous administration.
Mamdani responded to the City Council’s proposal with harsh criticism.
“Speaker Julie Menin’s preliminary budget proposal would result in slashing billions of dollars from agency budgets, which would force the City to cut services,” Mamdani said in a statement posted on social media.
“Double counting previously identified savings, overestimating revenues, and exaggerating debt service savings does nothing to close a deficit.”
The Fair Fares proposal differs from Mamdani’s campaign promise for fast and free buses for all NYC residents. While the proposal is a targeted approach to affordability, many of the benefits of Mamdani’s plan rely on eliminating the fare entirely, such as speeding up service by reducing on-boarding delays caused by payment processing.
The Fair Fares program also suffers from a low adoption rate, with approximately 370,000 enrolled out of an estimated 1 million who qualify for the program.
While Mamdani has maintained a critical response, transit advocates spoke out in favor of expanding the proposal to include doubling the income limit for Fair Fares to those earning 300% under the federal poverty line.
“Automatic free bus, subway and paratransit for 1 million New Yorkers would transform how people get around,” Danny Pearlstein, the spokesperson for the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, said.
After at least two more rounds of revisions, the budget will be adopted before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
