De Blasio hurriedly announces limited, late rollout for half-priced MetroCards
Announcement Comes After Prodding by Transit Advocates
On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson belatedly announced details of a half-priced MetroCard program for low-income New Yorkers.
This comes after an intensifying volume of criticism from transit advocates and Comptroller Scott Stringer, who called the mayor’s rollout of the program late, disorganized and lacking clarity. Half-priced cards were originally scheduled to be available on Jan. 1.
According to a release from the Mayor’s Office, the half-priced cards will be available at first only to a fraction of working residents at or below the federal poverty level who are receiving cash assistance or food stamps (now known as SNAP) from the city’s Department of Social Services. The city said it is committed to expanding the program to as many New Yorkers as possible in the future.
The Department of Social Services began to contact the first batch of 30,000 eligible individuals on Friday, according to the release. The city expects to add roughly 130,000 people to the program in April.