Res 0773-2025

Whereas, The New York City (NYC) Department of Education's 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, OMNY cards (previously MetroCards) for public transportation, and Pre-K and Early Intervention yellow bus transportation; 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 OMNY cards for public transportation, it does not provide OMNY cards for all forms of public transportation, such as transportation on MTA express buses; and Whereas, While more recent available data related to student usage of express buses is limited, according to an August 2019 New York Daily News article, some students spent $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; and Whereas, A.3024, sponsored by NYS Assemblymember Robert Carroll, was introduced in the NYS Assembly, and directs the MTA to establish a student fare program for trains and buses which discounts three train and/or bus fares each weekday equal to the standard pay-per-ride fare, including, but not limited to, standard bus and express bus services; and Whereas, In an effort to increase equity and affordability for NYC students, a companion bill should be introduced in the NYS Senate, and A.3024 should be passed and signed by the NYS Governor; 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, A.3024, which directs the metropolitan transportation authority to establish a student fare program for trains and buses. Session 13 JPB, AH, KJ, and KK LS 17314 11/19/25 Session 12 AH LS 3128 01/24/2022 2