The $2.90 most New Yorkers pay for subway and bus fare will go up to $3.00 next year, but it’s half-price for thousands of New Yorkers, like Jerimiah Gonzalez.
“I can go for more rides than if I pay full fare,” said Gonzalez, who signed up for the city’s Fair Fares discount program last year. “If I’m going for a job interview, if I’m going to somewhere that I need to be.”
The Fair Fares program is open to New Yorkers ages 18-64 who make 145% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and that threshold is about to go up to 150%.
At the current level, an individual must make $22,692; a family of four: $46,617.
Debipriya Chatterjee, a senior economist at the Community Service Society of New York (CSS) says the level excludes those working 40 hours at minimum wage.
“They are still struggling wi