Half Price MetroCards for NYC's Poor?

At a rally on Sunday, Community Service Society and Riders Alliance announced “Fair Fares,” a campaign for reduced-fare MetroCards for the city’s working poor.
In the Transit for All program, an estimated 800,000 riders would be eligible for a half-price fare for lowest-income residents, saving those who opt to participate up to $700 per year.

A reports issued by the groups found that over a quarter of low-income New Yorkers were often unable to afford the subway or bus in the past year.

Farebeating arrests are now the highest number of arrests by the NYPD -- over 29,000 in 2015, 92 percent involving people of color, according to Robert Gangi, Director of the Police Reform Organizing Project.

Gangi says that most people jump the turnstile not for the thrill of it, but because the $5.50 cost of a round trip is a financial burden.

 Other large cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, and London, have fare discount programs.

Below is a graphic from their newly-launched publicity campaign.

A number of officials have signed on, including Public Advocate Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer as well as groups such as the Brooklyn Defender Services, the Brooklyn Movement Center, Fifth Avenue Committee, and more.


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