{"id":182217,"date":"2026-04-01T15:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182217\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T15:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:02:08","slug":"nyc-council-proposes-free-subways-and-buses-for-new-yorkers-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182217\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council proposes free subways and buses for New Yorkers in need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The City Council in releasing its budget Wednesday is calling for free subways and buses for New York City\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/site\/fairfares\/index.page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">poorest residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Council leadership announced that an expansion of the city\u2019s Fair Fares program \u2014 which, in its current iteration, gives half-off transit fares to any New Yorker making less than 150% the federal poverty line \u2014 will be among the body\u2019s main goals in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The council is proposing expanding the benefit to cover the entirety of a subway or local bus fare for those eligible, effectively <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/02\/12\/advocates-call-on-mamdani-to-dramatically-expand-discounted-subway-and-bus-fare-program\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">making transit free for New Yorkers<\/a> below the threshold, a move that echoes\u00a0calls from transit advocates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFair Fares has been a lifeline for working New Yorkers, providing eligible riders with discounted access to one of our city\u2019s greatest assets: our transit system,\u201d City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program is available to any New York City resident bringing in less than 150% of the federal poverty line \u2014 including individuals making less than $46,950, or families of four making under $96,450 a year.<\/p>\n<p>An estimated 1.3 million New Yorkers are currently eligible, though only about 35% of them are currently enrolled to receive the discount.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Julie Menin is pictured in the City Council Chamber at City Hall on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Emil Cohen \/ NYC Council Media Unit)\" width=\"2570\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/55170527910_03c4cf141a_o-e1774554674604.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"8754913\" \/>Julie Menin is pictured in the City Council Chamber at City Hall on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Emil Cohen \/ NYC Council Media Unit)<\/p>\n<p>An analysis conducted by the Permanent Citizen\u2019s Advisory Council to the MTA said expanding the benefit to cover the entire fare would cost the city between $275 million and $330 million.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Mamdani \u2014 who made transit affordability a cornerstone of his mayoral campaign, promising specifically to make the MTA\u2019s buses fare-free for all \u2014 did not address Fair Fares expansion in his proposed budget earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>According to the PCAC, over 65% of Fair Fare use last year was on the subway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City Council in releasing its budget Wednesday is calling for free subways and buses for New York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[85,267,9,24,264,10,692,12,56,63,65,64,87,608],"class_list":{"0":"post-182217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-county","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-politics","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-headlines","19":"tag-nyc-news","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}