A New York City Council bill to automatically enroll eligible low-income residents in the Fair Fares half-price transit program got a hearing on May 6, 2026, before the Council’s General Welfare and Transportation committees — a push to fix a discount program that, by the city’s own numbers, reaches only about a third of the people who qualify for it.

The enrollment gap

Fair Fares offers half-price MetroCards and OMNY fares to New Yorkers ages 18 to 64 who earn at or below 150% of the federal poverty level. The need is not the problem; the sign-up rate is. Of an estimated 1.4 million eligible residents, only 30 to 40% are enrolled — roughly 370,000 people. That leaves hundreds of thousands of low-income New Yorkers paying full fare while qualifying for the discount.

Advocates have long argued the gap is a design flaw: eligibility is determined largely by income measures the city already collects for other benefits, yet Fair Fares requires its own separate application. People who qualify often never apply.

What the bill does

The legislation, sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn, attacks that friction directly. It would direct the Department of Social Services and the Human Resources Administration to build an automatic-enrollment mechanism that uses information already submitted for other benefits programs — among them SNAP and Medicaid — to enroll eligible residents in Fair Fares without a new application or fresh documentation.

The logic is that the city has already verified income for millions of people receiving food and health benefits. If those records can populate Fair Fares enrollment, the program’s reach could expand sharply without changing its eligibility rules.

“The fastest way to get more New Yorkers enrolled in Fair Fares is to enroll them automatically,” Hudson said.

The budget backdrop

The hearing landed at a politically pointed moment. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s February preliminary budget did not include a Fair Fares expansion. The administration’s stated transit priority is a citywide free-bus program — a more sweeping promise that has run into fiscal and jurisdictional limits, since the MTA, not the city, runs the buses.

That left the Council pressing a more immediate, lower-cost intervention: rather than wait for free buses, get the New Yorkers who already qualify for half-price transit signed up. The May 6 hearing put the Mamdani administration on record before the two committees and is part of the Council’s effort to fold the enrollment fix into budget negotiations ahead of the July 1 fiscal-year start.

What to watch

The open questions are operational and budgetary. Building a data-matching pipeline across SNAP, Medicaid, and Fair Fares involves coordination among city agencies and attention to privacy and accuracy. And expanding enrollment is not free — every newly enrolled rider represents subsidized fares the city budget has to absorb. Whether the bill advances out of committee, and whether the adopted budget funds the expansion it implies, will determine if the enrollment gap actually closes.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fair Fares?
Fair Fares is New York City's transit-discount program, offering half-price MetroCards and OMNY fares to lower-income residents. It currently serves people ages 18 to 64 earning at or below 150% of the federal poverty level.
What does the auto-enrollment bill do?
Sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson of Brooklyn, the bill directs the Department of Social Services and the Human Resources Administration to automatically enroll eligible New Yorkers using information already submitted for programs like SNAP and Medicaid, instead of requiring a separate Fair Fares application.
Why is it needed?
Only about 30 to 40% of the roughly 1.4 million eligible New Yorkers are enrolled — around 370,000 people. Advocates blame the separate application process and say automatic enrollment is the fastest way to close that gap.
Where does the Mamdani administration stand?
Mayor Mamdani's February preliminary budget did not include a Fair Fares expansion, with the administration prioritizing a citywide free-bus program. The Council hearing was in part a push for the mayor to engage on the enrollment fix.