New Funding NeededĪn MTA spokesperson declined to comment for this story, but CEO and chairperson Janno Lieber has repeatedly called for transit to be funded as an essential service, saying that Washington, Albany and City Hall must find ways to help North America’s largest mass transit system get through its latest fiscal crisis.Īt last week’s agency board meeting, Lieber said a discussion about new forms of funding “needs to unfold sooner rather than later.” Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. Other sources have told THE CITY there are rumblings from Albany on legislative proposals for fare-free bus service. The union head tweeted last week that transit service should be built into the tax base, noting that “We don’t pay cops or firefighters per use and our children don’t pay to enter schools” and adding, “We need safe, reliable Mass Transit with no fare” along with a thumbs-up emoji. “What are they going to do, keep raising the fare until they ice out the people they want to use the transit system?” “Not only do I think it’s not a pipe dream, it’s a necessity in post-COVID New York,” John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union and an MTA board member, told THE CITY.

While MTA officials have warned that higher-than-expected fare hikes may be needed by 2025 if ridership does not return to pre-pandemic levels, others say the time is now for mass transit to be funded similarly to the police, fire and sanitation services that are usually deemed “essential.” The push comes as the Council of the District of Columbia voted last week to do away with Metrobus fares in Washington starting in July, and as Boston last year tapped into $8 million in federal pandemic relief money to eliminate fares on three Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus routes through at least 2024.

As other cities experiment with fare-free transit, some MTA board members are calling on elected officials to come up with new funding sources that would allow the financially strapped agency to let New Yorkers ride buses for free.

Track bus mta