We did it!

We won major investments and improvements for the MTA — here’s what we accomplished together:

  • Averted the MTA’s looming fiscal cliff, which threatened to reduce service

  • Reduced the fare hike so working people bear less of the cost of the Authority’s operations

  • Secured a historic $35M for more frequent subway service on nights and weekends, which will begin this summer and include an increase in daytime weekday service to every 8 minutes on the N train!

  • Won a first-of-its kind free bus pilot across NYC, which will include five free bus lines in each borough and allow millions of New Yorkers the freedom to move around their city on a safer and faster ride – with no worry of the cost!

    • The lines included in the pilot are:

      • Queens: Q4 LCL/ LTD

      • Brooklyn: B60

      • Manhattan: M116

      • Staten Island: S46/96

      • Bronx: Bx18

These victories would not have been possible without the over 4,000 of you who took action canvassing your local subway and bus stops, reaching out to your elected representatives, and rallying to Fix the MTA. As riders, you told the legislature and Governor that transit must be treated like the public good it is and created and sustained enough pressure for this to become real. Thanks to you, millions of riders in our city will feel economic relief and the freedom to move more freely around their city this year.

We know we’ve only just begun to build the MTA that riders deserve.

Freeze fares

New York City is deep into an affordability crisis – whether looking at rent, utility prices or the rising costs of basic goods due to inflation. As we lead the state in unemployment, more than doubling the rate of the next region, many New Yorkers cannot afford a fare increase. 

For the  1.4 million New Yorkers living in poverty, a fare hike could be catastrophic. These New Yorkers already forgo essential activities, like medical care and job opportunities, because of the high cost of subway and bus fares. And means tested programs have not helped: in 2021, the Community Service Society found that 48% of eligible New Yorkers hadn't applied for the Fair Fares program and 14% didn’t know how to, mostly in the Bronx. 

Our bill rejects the proposal to increase fares and holds at the current $2.75 for subways, and will cost an average of $245M/year.

Fund frequency

New Yorkers are waiting too long for the buses and trains that help us to access our city. Our bill creates:

  • 6-minute headways (or better) for subways and a 20% increase in service across the bus system. Together, these will cost $778M/year.

  • A more frequent, reliable transit system that actually serves workers commuting beyond a 9-5 schedule will also increase ridership (by about 15%) – which will also increase safety for all riders.

  • We allocate $500M as one-time operating money to cover personnel needs, rolling stock procurement and facility costs associated with this increase in service.

Free buses

Our city’s bus system serves the most disadvantaged New Yorkers – those who often have no alternative to taking the bus.

Making buses free is one major step to ensuring universal access to the city and all its opportunities.

The benefits of free buses are manifold: speeding up travel times, improving safety, increasing access to essential services; boosting educational outcomes for students; and beyond.

Why we need this

The MTA is vital to New York City. It brings people to their places of work, worship, and gathering. It’s the beating heart of our city’s economy. And it’s essential to tackling climate change.

Just as we fund libraries and schools, we must fund transit as a public good.

Unfortunately, transit has suffered nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic due to lower ridership and decades of disinvestment by government. 

Here in NYC, the MTA’s operating funds are in crisis for a few reasons:

  1. Ridership has not recovered to projected levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

  2. Federal COVID-19 relief is running out

  3. The Authority’s historically high debt loads

In response, Albany has proposed a fare hike — to make you pay $3 to get on the bus or train. The Governor’s decision to allow a fare hike and leave New Yorkers facing 10 minute headways or worse is unacceptable. If we’re to return faith to the MTA, bring back riders, make our transit safer and ensure a long term future for the MTA, we need a final budget that freezes the fare, funds increased frequency and begins the phase-in of free buses.

Transit, like sewers, roads and bridges, requires large investments. We have the opportunity to make these investments in this year’s state budget: we are demanding that Governor Hochul and the legislature “Fix the MTA.” 

This is feasible

We’ve done the math. Fully funding the MTA, ensuring more frequent services, freezing fares, and making buses free – giving New Yorkers the MTA they deserve – is fully within reach. 

The annual cost of this entire package – on average $3.3B per year – amounts to just 1.5% of the State’s current budget of $222B. And this doesn’t even account for possible additional funding streams - namely five active proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy which would expand the revenue available for State spending.

This is the well-researched, prudent thing to do; these are the crises at hand, and we must resolve them. 

All that’s missing is the political will.