Students Welcome Half Fare Metro Plan
(Photo Credit: Zarin Siddiqua)
By Zarin Siddiqua
New York City residents who live under federal income standards now qualify for Fair Fares, a new law to reduce MetroCard prices by half. Introduced by Mayor Bill De Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Jan. 27, 2020, the program has earned praise from Lehmanites.
“$127 is a lot to spend when you aren’t working as much [and] also you are a full-time student,” said Joel Nunez, a chemistry junior, referring to the price of a monthly subway pass. “With the half-priced MetroCard, I can now save my money.”
An estimated 800,000 New Yorkers are eligible and can benefit from this reduced-fare program, but only 100,000 have enrolled so far, according to Spectrum News NY1. That’s out of an average of 4.3 million who rely on public transportation to travel to work or school every day. New York City Transit stated that 58 percent of the most transit-dependent New Yorkers are considered poor.
(Photo Credit: Zarin Siddiqua)
Within the Bronx, where 59 percent of Lehman students reside, the median income is $37,500. The Census conducted in 2017 shows Bronx District 7, which includes Kingsbridge Heights and Bedford Park, 7, holds an 8.6 percent rate of unemployment and 27.4 percent for poverty.
Lehmanites whose budgets are stretched by travel expenses said the half fare program comes as a relief.
“This is the first time I am hearing about the new law about MetroCards, and I think it is wonderful because this will help a lot of residents in New York City including me,” said Marissa Morales, a Lehman senior English major. “I use my MetroCard every day and paying that much money affects me a lot because that is money that needs to go to bills and me trying to save because my only income is work-study.”
“I put $20 on my MetroCard on a weekly basis, so in that way, I’m spending $80 a month on MetroCard and not $127. It helped me save money, but I only use it for limited travel,” said Roxan Turner, a Lehman junior English major.
(Photo Credit: Zarin Siddiqua)
Lehman adjunct Spanish professor Pablo Yankelevich, a Ph.D. student at CUNY Graduate School Center who uses MetroCards daily observed that the fee for a monthly card is “a lot of money, so…I usually save my money by not consuming things I find unnecessary; I don't buy anything other than food, coffee, and house-related expenses.”
Lehman students who reside outside New York City weren’t so excited about the new MetroCard program.
“I was able to get a half-priced metro card, but I live in White Plains and neither the Bee-Line buses nor the Metro-North accept it,” said Bricenia Diaz, a Lehman junior and psychology major. “I’m happy they have cheaper MetroCards, but a lot of students who attend Lehman come from outside of New York City like me. I think half-priced MetroCards should be for everyone.”
