{"id":207342,"date":"2026-04-23T16:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207342\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:16:13","slug":"editorial-choosing-a-fare-deal-over-fantasy-should-be-a-transit-no-brainer-for-the-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207342\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial | Choosing a \u2018Fare\u2019 deal over fantasy should be a transit no-brainer for the mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city\u2019s \u201cFair Fares\u201d discount transit program<\/a> is perhaps the best-kept secret in terms of building a more affordable New York \u2014 though it shouldn\u2019t be a secret at all.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, even though the city budgets a baselined $96 million a year to cover 1.3 million eligible low-income New Yorkers, the actual enrollment in Fair Fares, according to the latest figures, is about 370,000. Close to a million people, making up to 150% of the city\u2019s poverty line ($48,225 a year for a family of four), are missing out on a program that offers bus and subway rides at 50% off, which would put hundreds of dollars a year back into their pockets.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, transit advocates and the City Council want to put Fair Fares into high gear.<\/a> The Council\u2019s budget proposal would expand eligibility for enrollment to up to 350% of the city\u2019s poverty line, and authorize automatic enrollment in the program for New Yorkers already receiving other public benefits.<\/p>\n

Expanding Fair Fares would come at an estimated cost of between $150 million and $170 million, close to double what the city has already baselined. Yet even at a time when City Hall must grapple with ways to close a $5.6 billion deficit this summer, an expanded Fair Fares program would be a cost-efficient way to give New Yorkers in the greatest need a little relief.<\/p>\n

At the same time as the city deliberates expanding Fair Fares, Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to push for a fare-free bus system in New York, one of the hallmark promises of his successful campaign last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His office claims progress is being made in the endless budget negotiations underway in Albany toward advancing the free-bus dream, even as both Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have thrown enough cold water on the idea to cover the deserts of Arizona.<\/p>\n

For starters, the fare-free bus idea is expensive \u2014 the city will have to pony up close to a billion dollars a year to take over the capital and ordinary expenses involved. New York doesn\u2019t have that cash lying around right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, everyone gets a free ride \u2014 from low-income New Yorkers to Wall Street stock traders and power brokers earning six- or seven-figure incomes. That may not seem like that much of a problem, but as Lieber previously pointed out, why should New Yorkers subsidize bus rides for people who can afford to pay the $3 fare?<\/p>\n

Fair Fares, on the other hand, provides discounted rides on both buses AND subways to those who need it the most. The price tag for the Council\u2019s expanded program would still represent less than 15% of the billion-dollar cost for a fare-free bus system in New York City. The only real challenge to the program is getting eligible people to sign up for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seems like a no-brainer to us. Mamdani and the City Council should embrace a bigger, better Fair Fares program and put the fantastic fare-free bus idea in the garage.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city\u2019s \u201cFair Fares\u201d discount transit program is perhaps the best-kept secret in terms of building a more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51300,40815,53892,82208,33429,2423,426,73778,141,9,24,1057,55,54,56,1210,23948,78361,41886,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-207342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-budget-deficit","9":"tag-economic-inequality","10":"tag-fair-fares","11":"tag-fare-discounts","12":"tag-fare-free-buses","13":"tag-janno-lieber","14":"tag-kathy-hochul","15":"tag-low-income-new-yorkers","16":"tag-mta","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-new-york-city-council","20":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","21":"tag-new-york-city-news","22":"tag-ny","23":"tag-nyc-transit","24":"tag-public-transportation","25":"tag-transit-affordability","26":"tag-urban-policy","27":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207342","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=207342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}