Council leaders prefer Fair Fares to free buses. The city told them half of enrollees don't renew

The Council's two top leaders said this week that the city should put its transit money into Fair Fares, the city's half-price transit fare program for low-income riders, rather than Mayor Zohran Mamdani's promise of free buses for everyone.

Speaking at a City & State transportation summit on Thursday, Majority Leader Shaun Abreu estimated that free buses would cost $900 million to $1.3 billion a year, money he said the city doesn't have, City & State reported. Speaker Julie Menin said Fair Fares reaches people who ride the subway, bus or paratransit. Abreu, who chairs the Transportation Committee, floated raising Fair Fares eligibility next year from 200% to 250% of the federal poverty level.

Why it matters to residents: this year's budget already raised the income limit from 150% to 200% of the poverty level, adding about 340,000 people for roughly 1.3 million eligible New Yorkers, City & State reported. But only about 41% of eligible people are enrolled, according to an Independent Budget Office estimate the outlet cited. Mamdani has argued that sign-up barriers in programs like Fair Fares are a reason to make buses free for all.

What our records add

The Council heard the enrollment numbers in May. The General Welfare and Transportation committees held a joint oversight hearing on Fair Fares on May 6. Abreu noted in his opening remarks that there were more than 279,000 enrollees as of February (8:11). Officials from the city's Human Resources Administration told members:

• About 575,000 people were eligible but not enrolled, and the agency agreed with an outside estimate that fewer than 40% of eligible New Yorkers were signed up (48:30, 38:37).
• Over the past two years, about 50% of enrollees did not renew. Enrollment lasts one year (1:07:29).
• In fiscal year 2026 through the hearing date, 191,224 applications were started. Of those, 99,083 were approved, 38,606 were denied and 45,502 were left incomplete (1:04:53). An incomplete application expires after 10 days, and the applicant must start over (1:06:06).
• The program's advertising budget is $2 million (53:57).

Menin asked at the hearing why the application ran 13 to 15 pages (32:29). On Thursday she again called it 13 pages long. General Welfare chair Crystal Hudson said that if half of enrollees fall out because they have to renew, "we're failing" (1:09:39).

One fix is now law. Hudson's Int. 248, which lets people on food stamps or cash assistance apply for Fair Fares in the same application, passed in September and became law without the mayor's signature on Oct. 24. It was narrowed from automatic enrollment after HRA raised privacy concerns, City & State reported. Menin said the city can "absolutely" address those concerns and that automatic enrollment remains the goal.

Bike share bills are waiting. Abreu co-sponsors Int. 656, from Lincoln Restler. It would bar a bike share operator from charging members more than a subway fare for an e-bike ride of an hour or less, or a pedal-bike ride of two hours or less. It has 21 sponsors and no hearing since Feb. 12. Abreu told City & State he wasn't sure the cap was achievable but wanted to draw attention to costs. Three other bills would create discounted bike share rates: for public school students 16 and older (Int. 294, Farah N. Louis, 23 sponsors), for seniors (Int. 309, Christopher Marte, 16 sponsors) and for CUNY students (Int. 944, Marte, 12 sponsors). None has had a hearing.

What's next

The next budget, for fiscal year 2028, starts with the mayor's preliminary plan in early 2027. That is where any move to 250% of the poverty level, or toward free buses, would show up. Menin and Abreu also said they hope to expand a pilot that gave free OMNY cards to 700 CUNY students. More than 28,000 eligible students had expressed interest, City & State reported.