Testimony: Fair Fares Can Be The Game Changer New Yorkers Desperately Need
David R. Jones
Before the NY City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Thank you for providing the opportunity to testify today on transportation equity. I am David Jones, the President and CEO of Community Service Society of New York (CSS) and a board member with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). For 175 years, we have deployed comprehensive direct services, rigorous research and policy analysis, and grassroots advocacy to champion a more equitable city and state. June 11, 2018 is a special date in our long history. It was the day when then-Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Corey Johnson came together to agree to fund Fair Fares, a program that provides 50 percent discount on eligible subway and bus fares for all New Yorkers below the federal poverty level. It was the culmination of a hard-fought campaign by CSS, Riders Alliance, and key advocates across this city who illuminated the immense transit burden that so many New Yorkers face, and continue to face today, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and a debilitating economic recession. My testimony today will focus on how the Fair Fares program, when implemented effectively, can be the key instrument to achieving transit equity, and more broadly must be a part of an equitable recovery for New York City.
As the city emerges from the economic fall-out of the pandemic, we know the need for transit affordability today is even more acute than in January 2019 when Fair Fares was first rolled out. We know this because data from our Unheard Third Survey – the longest running public poll of low-income households in the nation – shows that transit affordability remains a formidable challenge for low-income New Yorkers: 1-in-4 said that they often struggled to pay subway or bus fares. The hardship was even more acute among Latinx New Yorkers and among residents of the Bronx – where the poverty rate is highest across the city. But even among New Yorkers who are moderately well off, with incomes between 200 to 400 percent of FPL, 17 percent still reported that they also struggle to afford transit.
This struggle to afford transit impacts the livelihoods of New Yorkers on a daily basis. For example, Maria, now a recipient of the program, had to choose between paying for a Metrocard and putting food on the table for her family. This is an unfair choice. From having to forego job opportunities, food and sustenance, to missing medical appointments, the costs to New Yorkers go way beyond the charge at the turnstile.
This is why Fair Fares can be the game changer New Yorkers so desperately need. At this time, 270,000 of city’s eligible individuals have enrolled in the program, which represents only 35 percent of the over 700,000 eligible individuals who are not yet enrolled. Our Unheard Third survey shows that 62 percent of eligible respondents said that they had not applied for the program. Of them, 14 percent said that they did not even know how to apply.
Awareness about Fair Fares is especially low among residents of Queens, with only a quarter of the eligible population reporting that they had applied or were already enrolled in Fair Fares. Brooklyn had the highest share—39 percent—of all eligible respondents either already enrolled or in the process of enrolling. Awareness was also high among Black New Yorkers: almost 40 percent of eligible Black New Yorkers said that they had either applied or were already enrolled. Enrollment rates were slightly lower among Latina/o/x New Yorkers—only 31 percent of whom had applied or were already enrolled.
Given this backdrop, we present the following 5 recommendations to strengthen the Fair Fares program:
1. Developing an aggressive outreach and awareness campaign: Since March 2021 when vaccines became available and the city started gradually opening up, Fair Fairs enrollment has picked up but the pace of increase has been only around 1.5 percent a month. This is in stark contrast to the regular subway and bus ridership numbers, which have increased at the rate of nearly 10 percent per month over the same time. This points to the need for an awareness campaign to reach those who might be eligible for the program but have no idea of its existence, as our survey results clearly reveal. It is unclear how much the City is doing, or has done, on Fair Fares outreach – what does the campaign look like, how much funding is being invested in Fair Fares outreach, and how are community partners involved? Like any new program, it will only benefit New Yorkers when they know about it and participate. In addition to placing ads on subways and buses, we need a more targeted approach to reaching New Yorkers in need – where they are – who are eligible. Engagement with local community leaders and organizations, ads in ethnic newspapers, schools, houses of worship, local shops and businesses, and local train and bus stops would make a tremendous difference. Additionally, the City should be pro-active in reaching CUNY students and NYCHA residents in particular, as many of them are eligible for Fair Fares and would benefit significantly from the program. For example, nearly half of NYCHA households in our 2020 Unheard Third Survey reported temporary or permanent job or income losses related to the pandemic. Furthermore, a recent Center for an Urban Future report found that the most common non-tuition financial barrier for CUNY community college students is the cost of a MetroCard.
2. Streamline the process of enrollment and renewal: At this time, enrollment in Fair Fares can take up to 4-6 weeks and replacement of lost or stolen cards can take up to 2 weeks. We recommend streamlining the process of signing up for the program, especially screening for it whenever individuals apply for any state, city, or federal programs and services, like a “one stop shop”. Also, we know a large fraction of the eligible population still struggles with internet access, especially amid the pandemic. The digital divide – both lack of access to quality internet and access to digital devices –are huge impediments to completing the enrollment process online. The paperwork should be integrated into more analog interactions, either in-person or through mailings, and with providers, making it easier for New Yorkers to sign up.
3. Improved data transparency and sharing: We need more administrative data on Fair Fares in order to assess the program. Besides the enrollment figures, which are updated weekly, we do not have any other critical data on the Fair Fares program. For example, we don’t know how many people actually use the program across boroughs, their races and ethnicities, the gender identities, and other critical demographic data about them. A search on the City’s Open Data portal for Fair Fares turns up zero results. The impressions on awareness and enrollment that I shared above are all from our annual survey, which, however rigorous and representative, cannot be a match for the City’s own administrative data. Thus, the City must provide, at minimum, data on enrollment on a regular basis, both as a historical series, as well as disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and borough of residence. Such data would help guide the City’s outreach efforts, understand the needs across the city, help estimate adequate funding levels, and also help community advocates and NGOs target their efforts in an effective and efficient way.
4. Restore Fair Fares funding back to pre-pandemic levels: When it was launched, Fair Fares was allocated $106 million. During the last two years, funding was slashed to $41 million in FY 2020 and then raised to $53 million for FY 2021. We commend the Mayor and the City Council for baselining the program at $75 million going forward. This is a critical step in the right direction and our projections show that the funding would be adequate if enrollment continues at the very close pace of less than 2 percent per month and transit usage continues to be below pre-pandemic levels. However, as transit usage increases, and with better outreach, we expect enrollment to grow significantly, so the City should be prepared to increase funding for the program to avoid a situation where the funds run out, likely in the near term.
5. Expand eligibility to all New Yorkers with incomes below 200 percent of FPL: We know that New York is among the most expensive cities to live in across the globe. And the federal poverty level, as it exists, does not take into account the huge cost of living expenses – from housing to food and beyond – that New Yorkers have to pay for living in this great city. The federal poverty level is widely recognized as incapable of capturing the cost-of-living in New York City, by advocates and policy analysts alike. New York even has its own poverty measure because of this staggering discrepancy. A recent study comparing 12 different transit agency-administered reduced fare programs in the United States found that the Fair Fares program had the strictest income eligibility requirement and that most had income eligibility thresholds up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Thus, to ensure that the Fair Fares program reaches even more hard-hit New Yorkers, the city must seriously consider expanding eligibility to all low-income New Yorkers, which includes those with incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. While the City’s own poverty measure, the NYCgov poverty rate, would be a much better metric, it would be administratively difficult to implement a program using it since the entire safety net architecture is built on federal poverty measure. By expanding the program to those at or under 200 percent of the poverty line, an estimate 1.2 million New Yorkers would benefit, all of whom would be at or near poverty. This is what part of a true equitable recovery should look like.
In conclusion, transit affordability is one of the lower hanging fruits on the path to an inclusive recovery. Fair Fares is an incredibly small fraction of the city’s budget, but will improve hundreds of thousands of lives, if not over a million lives should the program be expanded to reflect true poverty in NYC. If the City administration, the Council, and all of us here are serious about an equitable recovery, we have to ensure that the Fair Fares program reaches as many New Yorkers in need as possible. We hope you will seriously consider our recommendations and we stand ready to assist in any way we can.
Thank you.