BP Diaz, transit and community activists blast de Blasio administration for failing to include $200 million in FY 2019 budget to provide transit relief for the working poor
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and advocates from across the city have come together to rebuke Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to include funding for “fair fares” in his $88.67 billion Preliminary Budget for City Fiscal Year 2019.
“For a relatively small amount of funding the administration could provide the working poor with real financial relief by making ‘fair fares’ a reality,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “For $200 million we could make a significant impact on the everyday lives of nearly 800,000 New Yorkers – people from every corner of this city who desperately need a helping hand. The de Blasio administration must add the funding for ‘fair fares’ to its budget.”
The “fair fares” proposal is anti-poverty effort aimed at addressing transit affordability, and would fund half-price transit fares for the economically disadvantaged. Recent data from Community Service Society’s 2017 Unheard Third found that one in four poor, working-age New Yorkers are often unable to afford subway and bus fares.
The survey also found that 20 percent of working-age New York City residents living below the poverty line have been unable to run important errands due to subway fares, and that 31 percent could not look for or take a job further away from where they live because of the high cost of transit.
“As we debate the future of our transit system and how it will be funded, we cannot lose sight of the needs of the working poor. We should consider developing a more nuanced system of collecting fares—a system that takes into account a commuter’s means, and provides a discount to those New Yorkers who need it the most. A ‘fair fares’ program will do just that, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the City Council and advocates all over the five boroughs to make real relief for the working poor a reality,” said Borough President Diaz.
“Whether it’s a millionaires’ tax or a congestion pricing plan, we need a recurring source of revenue to fix our subway system and in the process make transit fares affordable for our lowest income residents,” said David. R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society and MTA Board Member. “These are both sound progressive ideas, but neither will provide the immediate relief that struggling New Yorkers need today to get to work and get ahead. The mayor should move forward and launch a half-priced “Fair Fares” program and fund it in the City budget. By not doing so, the mayor would’ve missed an opportunity to prove that his pronouncements about creating a fairer city were not just political rhetoric.”
