New York Launches Free Transit Pilot on Five Bus Lines

Writing in El País, María Antonia Sánchez-Vallejo outlines New York City’s free transit pilot program, being launched on five bus lines that serve some of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods.

The lines are spread out across each of the city’s five boroughs and will offer free rides for at least six months, with the possibility of extending the program to one year. “The authorities have explained that the routes were chosen based on ridership, fare non-payment rates and poverty in adjacent communities, as well as the routes’ access to commercial corridors.”

“As in Boston, where more than half of the users of the free lines live in low-income neighborhoods, the New York experiment seeks not only an environmental benefit, but above all to alleviate the unequal mobility of its residents in pursuit of greater spatial equity, which those who advocate alternative transportation models consider an essential step towards environmental sustainability.”

The program is expected to benefit up to 44,000 of the system’s 1.4 million weekly users each day. The article notes that “New York’s buses are the slowest in the country, with an average speed of 13 kilometers per hour (8mph). They are often excruciatingly slow, with runs that can exceed an hour in length.”