


Come on and take a free ride!
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has named the New York City bus routes that will be free starting in late September, Gov. Hochul announced on Monday.
The five bus routes across five boroughs are part of a $50 million state pilot program pushed hard by progressives in Albany.
The funding also boosts the number of trains running on the No. 1, No. 6, C, N and R trains by 20 percent during the middays and on weekends.
“The MTA is the lifeblood of New York City, and I’m proud of the tremendous progress we’ve made in returning ridership to pre-pandemic levels,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“By establishing these fare free bus pilot routes, we are expanding access to public transportation across the city and improving transit equity to better serve all New Yorkers.”
The free bus service, which is expected to serve 43,900 daily weekday riders, will last from six months to a year.
The price tag for the bus service is expected to be $15 million, while the bolstered subway service will cost approximately $35 million.
Each borough gets one free route:
The transit lines were selected based on several factors: overall ridership, fare evasion, fairness for lower socio-economic communities, and commercial activity. The pilot will not include free transfers to buses or subway lines.
Officials at the subway system also said that promised expansion of service in May would continue to arrive in August.
The C train will see midday service boosted to every 8-10 minutes, cutting waits from the current 10-12 minutes, starting on August 7.
The No. 1 and No. 6 trains will see their weekend service increased to every 6 minutes starting August 12.
And the N and the R will see their midday service improved to trains arriving roughly every 8 minutes, up from every 10 minutes under the current schedule.
Those train increases come on top of the recently rolled out improvements to the G, J and M.