Press Release
CSS Analysis: City’s Proposed Expansion of Fair Fares Will Open Up Program to Nearly 200,000 Additional Working-Age New Yorkers
The Fair Fares program is a lifeline for low-income New Yorkers struggling with transit affordability in a city with ever-rising costs of living. While we continue to fight for an expansion of the program to at least 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL), as is well documented in CSS reports and analysis, we are heartened that the potential of the program was acknowledged in the adopted budget “handshake” agreement today between the Adams Administration and the New York City Council.
The city budget adds $10.7 million to the program, the biggest expansion we’ve seen so far, opening up the program to working age New Yorkers with incomes up to 145 percent of FPL. We estimate that an additional 198,225 adult New Yorkers will be served at the new income threshold, bringing the size of the entire eligible population to 1.035 million. Based on the assumption that 40 percent of the new program recipients are commuters, the expansion of Fair Fares to 145 percent would result in approximately 80,000 more enrollees in the program.
For advocates of the Fair Fares program, today’s news is an encouraging sign that we are on track towards further expansion of the program, ensuring that our mass transit system is not a barrier but a gateway to opportunity for more working New Yorkers. We thank Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams and the City Council for supporting the program’s growth.