City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams wants the city’s “Fair Fares” program to double the number of New Yorkers eligible for reduced-fare rides on subways and buses.
Of course, the budget proposal requires the support of City Hall’s other Adams. A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams did not respond to a request for comment. The city budget is due July 1, and the Council this week began the annual tradition of. The mayor’s preliminary budget calls for cuts at virtually every city agency.
The Community Service Society estimates that doubling Fair Fares eligibility would cost the city between $195-225 million annually.When Fair Fares was first included in the city budget in 2018, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Corey Johnson shook hands on $106 million in funding. That funding was later slashed to $53 million amid COVID-related budget woes. Last year, Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams shook hands on a budget that included $75 million for Fair Fares.
Since implementation, the program has suffered from low uptake among eligible New Yorkers. Only about 283,000 New Yorkers are enrolled in Fair Fares, just 30% of the 932,000 New Yorkers eligible for the program. Officials and advocates have blamed this on a lack of awareness and outreach. “Our mass transit system can be our city’s great economic equalizer,” said David Jones, president of the Community Service Society and an MTA Board member who has championed Fair Fares, last year. “But if people remain unaware of their right to Fair Fares, the program’s potential impact as a powerful poverty-fighting tool will be diminished.”
Fair Fares riders also still cannot use OMNY to tap onto a subway or bus, though MTA officials say they can expect that ability
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