The city has launched an outreach program to bring attention to the MTA’s Fair Fares, a program that offers low-income New Yorkers a 50% discount on bus and subway fares along with Access-a-Ride paratransit.

When the program launched in 2019, the city planned to attract nearly 800,000 eligible New Yorkers. Since then, just over 260,000 people have enrolled.

The outreach campaign uses phone, text, and in-person messaging in order to increase participation.

Synthia Jahan, an intern at the mayor’s public engagement unit, is an advocate for the program. She says Fair Fares made a big difference for her family when they came from Bangladesh in 2019.

"At a time where New Yorkers are forced to contend with the steep increase in the cost of food and other commodities due to inflation, saving on transportation is one thing that New Yorkers have to put some more money in their pockets,” she described.

Fair Fares is available to New York residents aged 18 to 64, who do not already receive MTA seniors or disability discounts, nor carfare from the city.

Eligible participants must also meet certain income requirements. For example, a single person must make less than $13,600 and just under $28,000 for a family of four.