Free NYC bus routes will start charging again in August

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – A pilot program that brought free bus routes to each borough will end in August, bringing full-priced fares back by Sept. 1. 

The program was part of the state’s 2023 budget, which required the city to offer free routes in each borough for six-12 months. Nine months into the program, the MTA is out $12 million, and MTA officials at a recent board meeting said other affordability programs are more effective than the free buses. 

“We really want to continue to focus more specific efforts on affordability, Fair Fares being the most prominent one to try to get enrollment up. We think that’s a better way to help folks that we’re trying to help here with bus service,” said Jon Kaufman, Chief of Strategic Initiatives. 

Kaufman said the ongoing Queens and Brooklyn bus redesign projects will be more effective than the free bus routes at serving and attracting riders.

The free bus program wiped fares on the BX18A/B in the Bronx, M116 across Harlem, 860 between Williamsburg and Canarsie, Q4 from Jamaica to Cambria Heights, and the S46/96 across St George in Staten Island. 

The pilot program did not attract a significant number of new bus riders, nor take many cars off the road, Kaufman said. And, in total, the MTA forfeited more than $8 million in fares. 

The program was not included in this year’s state budget.