The Fair Fares program that launched back in January, was an outreach effort by the MTA to help those receiving less than a certain income to be able to afford public transportation in the city. The program currently has cheaper rates (around 50% off) for pay-per-ride, as well as the weekly and monthly unlimited card.
Just halfway into the year and only a few weeks after the announcement of full-fare MetroCards for K-12 students, officials have reported that the FF program has racked up a hefty number of 50,000 users of half-priced MetroCards. Fair Fares is also part of a larger program known as Access HRA, which offers: online grocery shopping for those with SNAP benefits (including Amazon.com), Pursuit Fellowship lessons on coding (no costs, no strings) and only a $5 monthly membership on CitiBike for SNAP/NYCHA residents.
Fair Fares started off as only applicable to around 30,000 residents who came in either at or below the federal poverty line and were already receiving help from the city. Over the past couple of months they’ve been expanding their enrolment guidelines, which now apply to NYCHA residents, CUNY students and veterans. Hopefully this has come as a welcome change to those struggling to manage the costs of daily NYC life.
featured image: mta