City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and others urged Mayor Eric Adams to allocate additional funds to the city's Fair Fares program Tuesday during a news conference. The group is pushing for the program’s expansion to be prioritized in the upcoming budget.

“Expanding Fair Fares to 200% of the federal poverty level means over 600,000 residents will become eligible,” said Adams.

The current Fair Fares program, funded by the city, provides a 50% subsidy on transit fares for eligible residents. Last year, the eligibility threshold was set at 120% of the federal poverty level. Advocates now seek to increase this to 200%.

“New Yorkers are facing an affordability crisis that is pushing people to the brink,” said Adams. "The rising cost of child care, health care and food is making it difficult for families to stay in the city they love and build their legacies right here.”

“The Blue Ribbon Panel on fare evasion recognized that too many people have to make a choice between fares and food,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee.

The City Council has been advocating for an additional $54.2 million to expand the program’s eligibility. Currently, over 320,000 New Yorkers are enrolled. The proposed expansion aims to support more working-class families across the city.

“The impact would be tremendous in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan,” Daglian emphasized. “In Manhattan, we’d see a 48% increase in eligibility if increased to 200%. That’s a lot of people, a lot of lives, that’s a real game changer.”

News 12 reached out to the mayor’s office for comment and did not hear back at the time of this report. The budget year ends on June 30, with the new budget commencing on July 1.