MTA proposes full-fare MetroCards for NYC students
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“This is a common-sense policy that makes it easier for kids to get to school and does away with needless complexities that have existed for too long,” said NYC Transit President Andy Byford in response to the MTA’s proposal to replace half-price student MetroCards will full-fare options for students. The MTA Board is expected to vote on the proposal on Wednesday, which would grant K-12 students who live at least a half mile from their school three-trip, full-fare student MetroCards.
“Replacing half-fare cards with full-fare ones saves money for students and saves time for everyone on a bus since the need for coins is eliminated,” added Byford. Currently, students make roughly 27,000 bus trips a day using half-fare cards. They instructed to pay the remaining $1.35 in coins.
The proposed full-fare MetroCards will allow students to take three free rides each day on both buses and subways between 5:30am and 8:30pm, a change that will likely cost the MTA $200,000.
The proposal comes just a month after the MTA raised the price of weekly and monthly MetroCards from $32 to $33 and $121 to $127–the sixth fare hike since 2009. However, it also comes on the heels of the city’s Fair Fares program, which offers half-price MetroCards to eligible New Yorkers in NYCHA, enrolled students at CUNY, and military veterans below the poverty line.
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- City will expand Fair Fares program to all eligible New Yorkers by 2020
- Service cuts and fare hikes proposed as MTA faces major budget crisis
