Transit advocates rallying for Fair Fares expansion inside the Atlantic Av-Barclays Center station in late 2025.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The City Council wants to offer free subway and bus fares to over one million New Yorkers living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, a change that would mark a significant expansion of the city’s Fair Fares program, amNewYork has learned.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin is unveiling the Fair Fares revamp, the details of which her office shared ahead of a planned Wednesday morning news conference, as part of the city legislature’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preliminary budget revealed in February. The response comes at a time when the city is staring at a $5.9 billion budget deficit, according to the Independent Budget Office.
Those making up to 150% of the federal poverty level, who pay half price under the current program, would see their fares reduced to zero with the council’s proposal.
In a statement, Menin said Fair Fares has been a “lifeline for working New Yorkers,” while emphasizing that expanding it is the “best” way to make the city’s transit system more accessible for those least able to afford the fare.
“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,” Menin said. “Riders and advocates have been clear that this program is the best, most accessible pathway to increasing transit access, combating the affordability crisis, and ensuring high-quality service.”
The council is also looking at ways to boost Fair Fares participation, including through automatic enrollment, according to Menin’s office.
But while the proposal embraces critical pieces of a coalition of transit and community advocates’ demand for growing Fair Fares, it does not include a request to begin offering half-priced trips to those earning between 150% and 300% of the federal poverty level.
Jack Lobel, a Menin spokesperson, said the council budget response is leaving that part open for negotiation as fiscal talks get underway in earnest, leading up to the July 1 deadline.
Council’s answer to Mayor’s fare-free bus vision
The speaker’s statement comes in contrast to Mayor Mamdani’s signature campaign promise to make city buses free for all riders.
While advocates have embraced Mamdani’s free bus plan, they have called on him to expand Fair Fares simultaneously.
On the other hand, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber has insisted that building on Fair Fares is a far better way to make transit affordable for those in need, rather than a universal program offering free rides to those who can afford the fare.
Mamdani drew the ire of transit advocates following the release of his $127 billion preliminary budget for not including a Fair Fares expansion in the spending plan. At the time, his office cited the budget deficit as a key factor in that decision.
The change Menin is proposing would cover the roughly 1.3 million riders already eligible for Fair Fares, according to a recent report by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC) to the MTA. That includes individuals earning $23,475 annually and a four-person household earning $48,225 each year.
The speaker’s office estimates the expansion would cost $130 million annually. But PCAC projected that it would cost slightly more — between $150 to $170 million.
The current program is baselined in the budget, meaning the funding cannot be removed, at over $96 million.