Welcome to the Free Transit Party!

How much was your very first subway or bus ride? Was it $2 or 25 cents? Did it cost more or less than a slice? Did you swipe a Metrocard or drop a token in the slot? Or did you just hop the turnstile or slide in through the emergency exit, whether for kicks or out of necessity?

We’ve all got that story, all of us New Yorkers—even if your first ride was yesterday and you paid for it by tapping your Apple Watch. And we all know that story’s sequel: The fare goes up. And up. And up. The next increase is coming in August, by the way.

It’s like the rent, but smaller, more frequent, and more annoying. It whittles away at your wallet, makes you second-guess every third trip, and keeps us from fully exploring the city we (more or less) love. Worst of all, it seems inevitable. What can anyone do about fare hikes?

Well, the Free Transit Party is here to bring an end to fare hikes.

Is this crazy?

Probably! This is not a popular or obvious time to be calling for an end to public-transit fares. The budget is bad, and the subways and buses cost a ton to operate. The feds, led by Donald Trump, are threatening to end congestion pricing, which would fund MTA improvements, and to withhold funds promised to the system. The mayor’s powers are limited by the state, and Albany already has a hard time justifying the expenditures, let alone increasing them. To end fares now would take more than $5 billion out of the system, with no immediately obvious way to make up the shortfall.

But there is never a perfect time for such things. Unless we start asking for free public transit, unless we start making the case that this is a worthy and attainable goal, it will never, ever happen.

And so today is the day that the Free Transit Party starts asking—the day, we hope, that you join us in asking, too. Here’s what we are asking for:

• A fare-free public transit system for all

• A clean, safe, and functional transit system for all

That’s it! That’s not so crazy, is it? Other cities and towns, and even some countries, have made this work, and if they can do it, so can New York City. In fact, we’ve already done it here to a degree: The Staten Island Ferry has been free since July 4, 1997, and there was a pilot program for fare-free buses along several routes last year.

It won’t be easy, obviously. There are a lot of steps to take in the meantime, and no doubt legions of opposition, not just to the goal itself but to the reasonable measures it will take to achieve it. But what have we got to lose? Without a fight, the fares will go up, but with a fight? They might still go up, but more slowly, and maybe not for everyone. So we—the Free Transit Party—might as well fight.

So, is this a party or what?

Nope, we’re not a political party¹ . For now, we’re a newsletter and an organizer, attempting to bring together the people and forces to make things happen. I’ll try to send out emails regularly, at least once a week, that we hope will do the following:

• outline strategies for slowing fare hikes

• share important transit-related news

• talk to politicians, experts, and other activists at the local, state, and federal level

• not take things too seriously

That last one is important, because although this may not be a party, it can still be a party. We want the movement to be fun, because transit is where so many of us spend so much of our lives, and dammit, we deserve to enjoy those hours.

So, what’s next?

Um, we could use some help? If you’re an expert or academic focused on transit, we want to hear from you. If you’re a politician, and you want to talk to me about your position on fare-free public transit, we want to hear from you. If you think we’re entitled babies who should go die, we want to hear from you.

We’ve also set up this ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE Printful store where you can get Free Transit Party stickers, which I’m hoping you’ll slap in, let’s say, highly visible places to spread the word about this movement. There’s also a coffee mug, and we’ll definitely do a T-shirt. But clearly, we do not have a graphic designer on the team! If you are, and you’d like to contribute a fun, clever design to the store, we want to hear from you. Also, don’t worry: We ain’t making any real money from that thing! Just enough to keep the lights on.

OK, that’s enough for today! Find out more about what this project is, how free transit will benefit us all, how we might make it happen, and who we are. When you’re done with that, here’s a few…

Recent transit stories to pay attention to

1  At least, not yet.