The City Council wants to offer free subway and bus fares to over one million New Yorkers living at or below at least 150% of the federal poverty level, a change that would mark a significant expansion of the city’s Fair Fares program.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin unveiled the Fair Fares revamp, the details of which her office shared ahead of the council’s Wednesday morning news conference announcing it, as part of the body’s response to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Fiscal Year 2027 preliminary budget revealed in February. The response comes at a time when the city is staring at a multi-billion-dollar funding gap that Mamdani’s budget office estimates to be $5.4 billion and the city’s Independent Budget Office projects to be $5.9 billion.
