Advocates release five-point plan to deepen affordability, slash commute times for more than two million New Yorkers
Plan builds on existing program framework; expands modes and reforms enrollment to reach more New Yorkers in every neighborhood
New York — As New York City transitions to a new mayoral administration, the Community Service Society, Riders Alliance, and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA released a new whitepaper titled Universal Affordable Transit for New York, detailing how the Fair Fares program can deliver affordable transit and faster commutes to millions of subway, bus, paratransit and commuter railroad riders in New York City within the Mamdani Administration’s first 100 days.
First launched by The City of New York in 2019, Fair Fares offers half-fare transit rides to low-income New Yorkers ages 18-64, and is a crucial lifeline of affordability for nearly 375,000 currently enrolled New Yorkers making 150% or less of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Yet Fair Fares currently excludes too many, including minimum-wage workers. The program’s eligibility threshold is among the lowest in the U.S., and onerous bureaucracy has prevented nearly two-thirds of eligible New Yorkers from enrolling.
Half-price fares across all modes in New York City would finally allow riders to take the fastest, most convenient transit available to them, irrespective of income – enhancing access to opportunity, employment, education, and more. No other city program has the power to improve transportation equity – and lives – while simultaneously addressing our city’s affordability crisis, addressing persistent inequity, and reducing fare evasion.
The five-point expansion plan includes the following:
- Expand half fares to 300% of the FPL (individual – $46,950, four-person household – $96,450), allowing an estimated 2.1 million more New Yorkers to enroll in Fair Fares.
- Fully free subway and bus fares for the lowest-income New Yorkers, making 150% of less of FPL (individual – $23,475, four-person household – $48,225). This would save 1.3 million New Yorkers up to $910 per year.
- Expand Fair Fares to MTA Express Buses and CityTickets on the LIRR and Metro-North railroads and further, with a weekly CityTicket that includes transfers to subways and buses – benefiting riders in subway deserts like Southeast Queens and the East Bronx.
- Automatic Enrollment to reduce barriers for applicants, as only a third of eligible New Yorkers are currently enrolled. Operationally, this would mean the Human Resources Administration would mail eligible New Yorkers half-priced or free OMNY cards and cease requiring enrollees to renew annually by utilizing information provided for other programs.
- Close Program Loopholes, such as half-price Access-a-Ride for qualifying seniors, who currently pay half fare as program participants until age 64 and then pay full fare at age 65.
The Fair Fares program began in 2019 with an income limit of 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and was expanded incrementally to 120% of the FPL in 2023, 145% of the FPL in 2024, and 150% in 2025. In fiscal year 2026, the Council and the Mayoral Administration baselined just over $96 million in funding for the program and added an additional $25 million in funding to increase eligibility from 145% to 150% of the FPL. Though this progress is notable, New York City’s eligibility threshold remains among the lowest in the country.
“When we first launched Fair Fares—based on CSS research showing one in four low-income New Yorkers struggled to afford the bus and subway fare—we envisioned it as a game-changer that would help make our mass transit system a true gateway to economic opportunity,” said David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York and an MTA Board member. “Across consecutive administrations, we’ve seen incremental progress expanding the program to more New Yorkers. But in one of the most expensive cities in the world to live and work, too many working-class New Yorkers who rely on transit every day—and who face similar affordability pressures—are still excluded. Under the incoming Mamdani administration, we look forward to Fair Fares becoming the transformative program it was always meant to be.”
“Fair Fares is a lifeline for many low-income riders but it hasn’t yet achieved its promise to enhance freedom and opportunity for everyone who struggles to pay the fare,” said Riders Alliance Senior Organizer Danna Dennis. “By transforming Fair Fares with broader and deeper affordability and making our buses fast and free, the Mamdani administration will make it so much easier for more than two million New Yorkers to get around and get ahead in our city.”
“The Fair Fares program is a crucial tool in delivering on Mayor-elect Mamdani’s mandate for affordability,” said Brian Fritsch, Associate Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “The framework we’ve released today charts a course towards a New York where every New Yorker, irrespective of income, can move around our city affordably and with dignity on whatever mode of transit works best for them.”
The benefits of Fair Fares expansion include:
- Expanding Fair Fares to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level would make over 2 million, or 30% of New Yorkers, eligible for half-price or fully free transit fares.
- Over 1 million, or 13% more New Yorkers, would be eligible for half-price transit with the existing Fair Fares program expanded from the current threshold of 150% to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level.
- 37 of 51 City Council Districts would see over 25% of their residents eligible for Fair Fares.
- In the first ten months of 2025, 65.84% of Fair Fares taps and swipes were on the Subway, with 34.16% on the bus.
- 3.5% of all taps or swipes into the subway were with Fair Fares in the first ten months of 2025.
- Over 1 million, or 16% of New Yorkers aged 18-64, currently qualify for Fair Fares at 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, but only just under 375,000 are enrolled.
- Council districts in Southern and Central Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan, and the Bronx have the highest density of people who would benefit from fully free Fair Fares at 150% of the FPL.
- The LIRR offers significant time savings over buses in subway deserts like Southeast Queens and the East Bronx, but without Fair Fares on the railroads in New York City many cannot afford to ride.
- The Urban Institute found the City of Philadelphia’s use of automatic enrollment in its income-based fare discount program caused participation to soar to 63% – more than three times the national average.