Half of the users may lose the right to preferential fare in the New York subway

The authorities of New York have cut in the budget for 2021 financing of the program "Fair Tariffs" by 61%. Now its users worry that they will not be able to afford to use public transport at all. This publication writes Daily News.

The Fair Rates City program offers low-income New Yorkers discounted MetroCards (for 50% of the cost). It is designed for all residents of the Big Apple with low incomes.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a reduction in the city budget for fiscal year 2021. The budget, signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio on July 1, reduces funding for the Fair Tariffs program to $ 41 million out of $ 106 million, or 61%.

Some users of the program now fear that they will not receive benefits after the money in the program runs out, and will not be able to use public transport at all, since they cannot pay the full fare.

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Clementine James, 47, a Queens resident, works as a security guard and uses the discounted MetroCard to travel to work. When quarantine was introduced in the city, James shifts were reduced from five to three days a week. Therefore, the travel card is now disadvantageous for her (even with benefits), since there are fewer trips, and she pays for each trip separately at full cost.

City finance officials expect many Fair Tariff program users, such as Clementine James, are now less likely to use public transportation. This is justified by the reduction.

Council speaker Corey Johnson, who helped launch the program in 2018, said June 30 that the cuts were based on a reassessment of what kind of help the poor now need. The assessment was carried out on the basis of a drop in passenger traffic in the metro and on bus services.

Melanie Hartzog, director of the city’s financial department, said on Tuesday that the budget cuts were “calculated correctly.”

However, Nancy Rankin, vice president of the New York Society for Public Services, who helped work on the launch of the Fair Rates program, disagrees. Rankin and her team estimated in 2018 that approximately 361 poor New Yorkers needed to be able to pay for travel at reduced rates. But then the city’s economy flourished, and today the situation is completely different.

“In a time of heightened needs and economic hardship, when so many people have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay rent, we need to do things that provide some financial help to people,” Rankin said. She also wonders what will happen when passenger traffic increases, "and we will exceed this $ 41 million limit."

As of July 1, 2020, almost 193 thousand people were users of the Fair Tariffs program.

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Today, Rankin believes, New York "needs a policy that promotes the return of public transport so that the city can function."

“People with low incomes cannot afford cars. They have no such alternative. Does the mayor understand this at all? " - she is indignant.

Recall that the authorities in New York on June 30 cut funding for the police department about $ 1 billion. In addition, the city decided to cancel the planned hiring of about 1160 employees, as well as to deprive the police of such functions as monitoring illegal trade, homeless people on the streets and school safety.