File #: Res 0773-2025    Version: * Name: Require the MTA to provide free express bus fare to NYC students who take express buses to and from school.
Type: Resolution Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
On agenda: 2/27/2025
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation that would require the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide free express bus fare to New York City students who take express buses to and from school.
Sponsors: Amanda Farías, Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Tiffany Cabán
Council Member Sponsors: 3
Attachments: 1. Res. No. 773, 2. February 27, 2025 - Stated Meeting Agenda

Res. No. 773

 

Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation that would require the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide free express bus fare to New York City students who take express buses to and from school.

 

By Council Members Farías, Brooks-Powers and Cabán

 

                     Whereas, The New York City (NYC) Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) operates the largest school transportation system in the country, facilitating transportation of over 600,000 NYC students who attend both public and private schools; and

                     Whereas, OPT offers 4 transportation services for students to travel to and from school, including general education yellow bus transportation, specialized yellow bus transportation, MetroCards for public transportation, and Pre-K and Early Intervention yellow bus; and

Whereas, The current fare on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) subways, local, limited, and Select Bus Service is $2.90 and is $7.00 on express buses; and

                     Whereas, Although OPT’s website states that it provides students with MetroCards for public transportation, it does not provide MetroCards for all forms of public transportation, such as transportation on MTA express bus; and

                     Whereas, While available data related to student usage of express buses is limited, according to an August 2019 New York Daily News article, some students spend $2,700 annually on express buses to travel to school; and

                      Whereas, Prior to May 2019, OPT provided half-fare MetroCards to all students eligible for school MetroCards, including seventh to twelfth graders who lived between 0.5 miles and 1.5 miles from school; and

                     Whereas, In May 2019, the MTA announced that it would provide all students previously eligible for half-fare MetroCards with full-fare MetroCards; and

                     Whereas, While this change makes traveling less financially burdensome for students who were paying fares using their half-fare MetroCards on local buses, it fails to address the financial burden of students who pay $7 to travel to and from school on express buses; and

                     Whereas, As of January 1, 2022, more than 2,000 parents and advocates signed an online petition calling for the MTA to lower express bus fares for high school students traveling to and from school; and

                     Whereas, There are over 80 express bus routes in NYC, which often serve transit deserts and neighborhoods underserved by subways, and students should be able to use express bus services to travel to and from school free of charge, like other students who utilize subways and local buses; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation that would require the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide free express bus fare to New York City students who take express buses to and from school.

 

Session 13

JPB, AH, and KJ

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