Push For Half-Price MetroCards Takes To Social Media

NEW YORK, NY — City Council lawmakers brought their campaign for half-price MetroCards for poor New Yorkers to social media on Thursday. The Council launched a "digital day of action" to convince Mayor Bill de Blasio to fund a "Fair Fares" program that would help low-income straphangers afford to get around.

Council members and advocates posted hundreds of messages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram urging de Blasio to get behind the plan. The campaign was enough to make #FairFares a trending topic on Twitter.

"We need to make New York City more affordable, and we can do that by reducing travel fares for low-income citizens," Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) said in a statement. "This digital day of action is a 21st century way to show support for this life-changing proposal."

The Council wants de Blasio's 2019 city budget to include $212 million in subsidies to offer half-price MetroCards to some 800,000 New Yorkers living below the federal poverty line. Advocacy groups have supported such a program for years as a way to lighten the burden on struggling commuters.

De Blasio, a Democrat, has resisted the plan despite its popularity among Council members. He supports the idea but has said it should be funded by his proposed "millionaire's tax" — a tax hike for the rich that would require the state Legislature's approval — rather than the city budget.

But pols, advocates and others took to Twitter to argue the plan would make New York a fairer city — just as de Blasio has said he wants to do. Some shared a link to a website where New Yorkers can send a message to the mayor's office declaring their support.

"You promised to raise up the poor in our City, to make us "One #NYC"—and here's a way to do just that," Michael G. Stone tweeted to the mayor. "Why are you dragging your feet?"

The mayor's office said it's received 110 petition signatures, 41 emails from New Yorkers and 24 phone calls about Fair Fares since last week, when Johnson started encouraging people to contact City Hall.

But the PR push hasn't swayed de Blasio.

"The Mayor supports Fair Fares. But instead of making riders and low-income New Yorkers pay the bill for it, he believes a tax on millionaires should fund the fare discount," mayoral spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in a statement Thursday.

(Lead image: Photo by Ben Harding/Shutterstock)