Fair Fares NYC
By Sharon Joag

A ‘Fair Fares’ Program So Exclusive, Barely Anyone Can Qualify For It – February 15, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/nyregion/nyc-mta-discount-fare.html?searchResultPosition=4

The title of the article grabbed my attention, in its sad reality. I was curious to investigate the site where a person would go to apply for fair fares. I found access.nyc.gov where I tried to apply to the program. There was a “determine your eligibility” tab, so I clicked on it to see how far I would get and to understand who was being accepted and who wasn’t.

The first question asked for age, and whether I was between the ages of 18-64. I am between that age group, however it got me thinking about what would happen if I was 65 and still working. Not everyone retires at 65, especially people who are living at the poverty line and those who don’t have savings, and those who could not save.

The next question asked if I lived in New York City. I actually got rejected at this question, since I live in New Jersey. However, I was baffled that this was a criteria.  There are so very many people who live in the tri-state area, but who commute to work in New York City. I feel that where you work should determine if you qualify for Fair Fares; as long as a person works in New York City and can prove it, this should be the qualifier.

Finally, the last question asked about annual income for one person. I did further research on a website: http://minimum-wage.org/newyork. This website had the following information: “A full time minimum wage worker in New York working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, will earn $105.60 per day, $528.00 per week, and $27,456.00 per year. The national poverty line for a family unit consisting of two people is $16,020.00 per year (in New York City)”.

I went a bit further and found the website (https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty) for poverty levels to corroborate the poverty income line. I found that the poverty threshold for one person living in New York is $12,880. This threshold is for the contiguous 48 states in the United States (excluding Hawaii and Alaska).
The cut off income for a person living in New York City, to qualify for Fair Fares in NYC is $13,500. This is only a difference of $620. Many people are at the poverty line, even though they fall above the poverty threshold. Sadly, this poverty threshold does not take into account the high cost of living in New York City.

A positive is that there will be more funding provided to this program, however, poverty thresholds need to be reexamined based on cost of living in each state and even each city.

References:

Garfinkel, I., Rainwater, L., & Smeeding, T. (2010). The size, nature, and universality of welfare state transfers. Wealth and welfare states: Is America laggard or leader? (pp. 39-61). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Ley, A. (2022, February 15). A ‘fair fares’ program so exclusive, barely anyone can qualify for it. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/nyregion/nyc-mta-discount-fare.html?searchResultPosition=4 (Links to an external site.)

McNutt, J.G & Hoefer, R. (2021). Poverty, inequality, and income maintenance policy. Social welfare policy: Responding to a changing world. (pp. 175-196). OxfordUniversity Press, New York.

Access NYC. Access.nyc.gov

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references/2021-poverty-guidelines#threshholds