A newly-formed coalition of advocates took to the City Hall steps on Wednesday, demanding that Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council take immediate action to make the Big Apple’s subways and buses cheaper and faster, including by doubling the size of its half-fare program.
The collective — dubbing itself the “Riders for Affordable Transit” coalition — made three central asks during a rally on “Transit Equity Day,” which honors the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Topping their wish list is a call to dramatically expand eligibility for the city’s half-fare program — Fair Fares — along with speeding up bus and paratransit service, and making all bus and paratransit rides free.
“We want to make sure that transit is reliable, we want to make sure that folks can get to and from on time,” said Danna Dennis, a senior organizer with the group Riders Alliance.
“We want to make sure that it’s accessible,” she continued. “We definitely need more elevators, more ramps. And when we talk about access, we’re talking about money, because a lot of us New Yorkers are struggling.”
The coalition includes groups such as Riders Alliance, Vocal New York, the Community Service Society, and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Council to the MTA (PCAC). It is seeking to build on momentum from Mamdani’s victory powered by a platform that centered a proposal to make city buses fast and free.
Many speakers at the rally emphasized the coalition’s demand to expand Fair Fares eligibility, which currently sits at or below 145% of the federal poverty level. Growing the program is perhaps the most attainable of the group’s three demands, as it could be done this city budget cycle and does not require approval from Albany leaders.
Specifically, the group called for a revamped Fair Fares program that offers free, rather than reduced, rides to New Yorkers making up to 150% of the federal poverty level. They also want the city to offer the half-fare benefit to those making between 150% and 300% of that threshold.
Kara Gurl, planning and advocacy manager at PCAC, said increasing the limit by 155% would roughly double the number of riders eligible for the program to around 2 million.
“Right now, far too few riders are enrolled,” Gurl said. “By expanding Fair Fares to 300% of the federal poverty level, about 30% of New Yorkers could finally benefit from half-fare transit. That’s over 1 million more riders than are eligible today.”
While former Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council have widened eligibility for Fair Fares in recent years, the increases have consistently fallen short of advocates’ previous demand to make the program available to those earning 200% of the federal poverty level.
The group said the city should also automatically enroll all New Yorkers who receive other public benefits it distributes, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in Fair Fares.
“When [people] are eligible, they need to be automatically enrolled, instead of having to find out on their own, or, in some cases, not at all,” said Vocal New York Chair Reginald Thomas Brown.
In response to the demand, Mamdani spokesperson Sam Raskin said the mayor’s office is “reviewing” the proposal while contending with a $12 billion budget gap it says Adams’ administration left.
“The administration is reviewing the Fair Fares proposals, as we work to close the $12 billion Adams Budget Crisis caused by years of underbudgeting essential services,” Raskin said. “The Mayor shares the advocates’ goals of making public transit fast, reliable, and affordable.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
