Susie Kamara is a home health worker and barely gets by, but makes too much to qualify for the city’s half-price transit program known as Fair Fares.
“To be honest, it’s affected me a lot because I was just close to be qualified City Hall. I need it to visit my clients,” she said. “So I had to save up every week to make sure I’d be able to afford the transit.”
What You Need To Know
- A new report from the Citizens Budget Commission, also known as CBC, makes the case for raising the income threshold. It says increasing it to 250% of the federal poverty level would allow over 700,000 more people to enroll — 2 million people total at an annual cost of $146 million a year
- While the City Council supports expanding eligibility, and in fact, making all transit free for those currently enrolled in Fair Fares, on Wednesday they examined a bill that would increase enrollment
- Meanwhile, Mayor Zohran Mamdani weighed in exclusively to NY1, supporting both expansion and increasing enrollment
Kamara joined transit advocates at City Hall ahead of a hearing on the program to push for expanded enrollment…