Financial Relief for Transit Riders
FINANCIAL RELIEF FOR TRANSIT RIDERS
Free Fare Bus Pilot Program
A Year Without Fares: Lessons From New York’s Free Bus Pilot | The Nation
- 1 in 5 New Yorkers in 2023 struggled to afford the $2.90 one-way fare on NYC subways and buses
- The average bus rider who makes less than $30,000 a year
- The highest uptick in new ridership was from about
- individuals earning less than $28,000/year
MTA ends free bus routes after high rates of fare evasion in NYC transit system found - CBS New York
- Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani said many don't pay because they can't afford it.
NYC bus routes: Free buses will be part of MTA pilot program starting Sunday | NBC
- NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said Wednesday that the program will save a family of four "$6,000 a year. That is a lot of money for most families in this city."
Affordability x Transit
The Unheard Third: When You Can’t Afford the Fare | Community Service Society
- In 2024, for an individual to be considered moderate income, their resources must be between $30,120 (200 percent of FPL) and $60,240 (400 percent of FPL).
- For a family of four to be considered moderate income, their household resources must be between $62,400 (200 percent of FPL) and $124,800 (400 percent of FPL).
- Transit affordability has emerged as a challenge even among moderate income (with incomes between 200 and 400% of FPL) and high income (with incomes above400 percent of FPL) households.
- All New Yorkers with incomes below 200 % of FPL experience transit affordability hardship at similar rates.
- And such rates are at least 10 percentage points higher than the citywide transit affordability hardship rate of 19 %.
- Transit affordability hardship rates among moderate income households have continued to rise steadily between 2020 and 2023.
- Between 2022 and 2023, the share of moderate-income households reporting transit affordability hardship increased by 3 percentage points from 18 percent to 21 percent.
Robin Hood: The State of Poverty & Disadvantage in NYC | Winter 2024
- In 2022, nearly 500,000 more New Yorkers lived in poverty than the year prior. More than 1.5 million adult New Yorkers (23%) and nearly 420,000 children (25%) in New York City lived in poverty in 2022, up from 1.2 million adults (18%) and 260,000 children (15%) in 2021.
- New Yorkers living below the poverty line were not the only ones struggling to get by in 2022 – more than 4.6 million New Yorkers (56%) had incomes below 200% of the poverty line in 2022 and a third (33%) classified as having low incomes, or incomes between 100-200% of the poverty line.
- New Yorkers with incomes below 200% of the poverty line were twice as likely to experience difficulty paying for housing, energy and telephone bills, and food than those above 200% of the line, with almost 1 in 5 (19%) reporting that they lived paycheck-to-paycheck in the past 12 months.
- Still, in 2022, government transfers and tax credits cut the adult poverty rate in New York City by 27% and the child poverty rate by 41%, keeping more than half a million adults and almost 300,000 children above the opoverty line. These effects are less substantial than those in 2021, when govern- ment transfers and tax credits cut the adult poverty rate by 45% and the child poverty rate by 68%.
- More than half (52%) of adult New Yorkers faced at least one form of disadvantage (poverty, material hardship, or health problems) in 2022.
- Dependence on Public Transit: Low-income New Yorkers are highly reliant on public transportation, with 58% using subways and buses as their primary mode of travel, compared to only 15% who use private automobiles. This dependence makes them particularly vulnerable to fare increases.
- Financial Strain: The cost of transit fares imposes a significant financial burden on low-income individuals. For those living at or below the federal poverty level, purchasing a 30-day unlimited MetroCard ($116.50 at the time of the report) can consume about 10% of their household income. This financial strain limits their ability to seek medical care and pursue job opportunities that are farther from their residences.
Misc.
2024 Federal Poverty Guidelines (For 2025 Coverage)
All the MTA fare hikes of the last 100 years | 6sqftA area
Affordability Crisis
NYC AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
New Poll: Amid Affordability Crisis
Record Difficulty Affording Food: 79% of New Yorkers said it had become harder to afford groceries over the past year. This compares to 73% this time last year, after post-pandemic inflation had peaked. 85% of New Yorkers said the cost of food was rising faster than their income.
- Even Solidly Middle Class New Yorkers Struggling with Affordability: Large majorities of New Yorkers making less than $50,000 per year (90%), $50,000-$99,000 (87%) and over even over $100,000 (72%) said food prices were rising faster than their income.
- Growing Food Insecurity: 43% of New Yorkers said they’d experienced signs of food insecurity because of cost, such as eating poorer quality or a more limited variety of food (32%) or not having enough to eat (11%).
- Less Fresh, Healthy Food: 51% of New Yorkers bought less (or no) meat, fish, eggs, or other protein due to cost, and 45% bought less (or no) fresh produce. 37% bought more rice or other “filler” foods to stretch healthier ones.
- More Stress: 58% of New Yorkers report being more stressed figuring out how to afford enough nutritious food compared to this time last year.
Articles relevant to Criminalization of Poverty: Solution Times Issue #64: Who can Afford $12.99 Eggs?
Fair Fares Programs
FAIR FARE/REDUCED FARE PROGRAMS IN MAJOR U.S. CITIES
NYC Fair Fares Program
Fair Fares NYC
- Eligibility:
- 18-64 years old
- NYC res
- At or below 145% of the FPL
- Cannot receive (or be eligible for) full carfare from DSS/HRA or a discounted MetroCard through any other NYC program
- Fair Fares can also provide 50% off MTA Access-A-Ride Paratransit trips.
- Pay-per-ride, weekly unlimited and monthly unlimited options are all available in Fair Fares NYC
- Fair Fares NYC will not ask about your status or record any information regarding immigration status.
- Your Fair Fares NYC MetroCard is only for your personal use. You cannot share your Fair Fares NYC MetroCard with family members or friends
New York City Council Calls for Fair Fares Increase and Investments in Street Safety at Transportation and Infrastructure Executive Budget Hearing - Press
- Speaker Adrienne Adams and the Council have consistently advocated for increased support of Fair Fares, so more working-class New Yorkers have access to our transit system and opportunity.
Jan 2025 Press Release on Expansion of NYC Fair Fares Program
- the second Fair Fares eligibility expansion in as many years and makes nearly 200,000 New Yorkers eligible for half-priced fares
- Announced an expansion of the Fair Fares transit discount, which will increase income eligibility to include New Yorkers earning up to 145 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), making nearly 200,000 additional low-income and working-class New Yorkers eligible to receive a 50 percent discount on subway and bus rides.
- "No New Yorker should be denied access to public transit because they cannot afford it," said Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
- The budget agreement between the Adams administration and the City Council adds $20 million of additional funding to the Fair Fares program, bringing the total level of funding for FY25 to $115 million.
- Currently, nearly 360,000 New Yorkers are saving on transit costs through Fair Fares, the most in the program’s history.
- The Fair Fares program's eligibility was expanded in November 2023, and $95 million is allocated for fiscal year 2024, mainly towards tax refunds to assist with transportation costs.
- Fair Fares program's eligibility was expanded from 100% to 120% of the federal poverty level.
- For fiscal year 2024, $95 million is allocated to the Fair Fares program.
- The program operates as a tax refunded system.
- In FY 2023, actual spending was $65 million, with $60 million towards client benefits and the rest towards marketing and program staff.
The Unheard Third: When You Can’t Afford the Fare | Community Services Society
- A New Yorker working full-time, year-round, at the local minimum wage of $16/hour earns too much to qualify for the Fair Fares program.
- Since its launch in 2019, the Fair Fares program has provided a lifeline to approximately 300,000 New Yorkers struggling with transit affordability.
Half-Priced MetroCard Program Will Launch in '19, But With Limits
The Long-Shot Case for Making NYC Public Transit Free
- It’s that second factor—because riders need to skip the fare out of economic necessity—that the Fair Fares initiative was intended to address. Pushed for by transit advocates and championed by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the campaign scored a victory last year when the city budget carved out $106 million to pay for half-priced MetroCards for low-income residents.
- The de Blasio administration was slow to implement the program. When Fair Fares finally launched in early January, many were disappointed to learn that it would be rolled out in phases, with only 30,000 out of the estimated 800,000 people eligible able to enroll for the first four months.
Boston Fare Free Bus Program
Free Route 23, 28, and 29 Bus Program | Boston.gov
- From March 1, 2022 through February 28, 2026, MBTA Routes 23, 28, and 29 will be free for all riders.
- Over half of riders on Routes 23, 28, and 29 are classified as low-income, according to MBTA’s most recent system wide survey
Kansas City Fare Free Transit System
What Can Cities Learn from Kansas City’s Fare-Free Transit Program?
- Kansas City became the biggest city in the U.S. to eliminate fares system-wide in 2020.
- In 2019, the City Council directed the city manager to dedicate $8 million to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) to make up for lost fare revenue.
- While the zero-fare program was initially meant only for trips that originated in Kansas City, Mo., the Authority and partner agencies decided to make the entire system fare-free in March of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
- TRANSIT ZERO FARE IMPACT ANALYSIS
- Buses in Kansas City will remain free to ride for at least the next year, after the Kansas City Council voted Thursday to renew its annual contract with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
- The council unanimously approved $70.9 million in funding for the KCATA to continue providing public transit services, with explicit language extending the zero fare program— something the agency has been considering ending due to budget shortfalls.
Philly Zero Fare Program
Zero Fare | Programs and initiatives | City of Philadelphia
- Providing free transit access to 25,000 or more Philadelphians living near or below the poverty level as part of a two-year pilot program.
- Residents can't apply independently for Zero Fare. Instead, eligible Philadelphia residents will be randomly selected to participate through a lottery system. Eligibility is based on income, age, and philly residency
- About 90% of participants will be randomly selected and automatically enrolled.
- The remaining 10% of participants will be enrolled through designated community-based organizations that serve immigrant and refugee communities in Philadelphia.
NYC Free Fare Bus Pilot Program
NYC FREE FARE BUS PILOT PROGRAM
Fare Free Bus Pilot Evaluation- MTA
A Year Without Fares: Lessons From New York’s Free Bus Pilot | The Nation
- The program lasted from September 24, 2023, until Sunday [Sept. 1 2024], serving nearly 50,000 weekday riders.
- Across all five fare-free bus lines, the MTA reported a 30 percent increase in ridership on weekdays and 38 percent on weekends, with 23 percent of riders reporting that they made the trip because it was free.
- 44% of riders took the free bus for errands and leisure, allowing them to more freely contribute to New York’s economy.
- 5 free routes in the pilot program:
- Bx18 A/B: It serves Morris Heights, Highbridge and Mount Eden neighborhoods and connects to the 4, B, D trains and several other bus routes. Major employers and institutions covered on the route include Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center and Bronx Community College.
- B60: serves the Canarsie, Brownsville, Ocean Hill, Bushwick and Williamsburg neighborhoods. It makes connections to the 3, C, L, G, J, M, Z trains and several other bus routes. Major employers and institutions covered on the route include Brookdale University Hospital & Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull.
- M116: serves the Harlem, East Harlem and Morningside Heights neighborhoods. The route makes connections to the 1, 2, 3, 6, B, C trains and several bus routes. Major employers and institutions covered on the route include St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University and the East River Plaza Mall.
- Q4 LCL/LTD: serves the Jamaica Center, South Jamaica, St. Albans and Cambria Heights neighborhoods. It makes connections to the E, J, Z trains, the St. Albans Long Island Rail Road station and several bus routes. Major employers and institutions covered on the route include Jamaica Center, York College and the St. Albans VA Hospital.
- S46/96: It serves the St. George, Tompkinsville, West New Brighton, Port Richmond, Elm Park, Arlington, Bloomfield and Chelsea neighborhoods and makes connections to the SIR and Staten Island Ferry. Major employers and institutions covered on the route include the NY Empire Outlets, Richmond University Medical Center, West Shore Plaza and the Forest Promenade Shopping Plaza.
MTA Announces The Five Fare-Free Pilot Bus Routes - Secret NYC
- Back in May of this year, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the transit highlights of the FY 2024 Budget, which included $15 million to fund a pilot program providing five fare-free bus routes in NYC. And today, Monday, July 17, Hochul announced which routes would be included in the pilot.
MTA ends free bus routes after high rates of fare evasion in NYC transit system found - CBS New York
- He suggested the MTA make all buses free and get reimbursed by the city and state. "That's about $800 million a year," Mamdani told CBS News New York, "which may sound like a lot of money, and it is substantial, but in the context of a city budget that's north of $100 billion and a state budget that's north of $220 billion, this is just pennies."
Fare Evasion
FARE EVASION
In the first quarter (Jan-Mar) of 2025, the NYPD & MTAPD made 3,696 arrests for fare evasion… 2,341 of those arrested were Black folks from our communities.
*This is the most arrests that have ever been for fare evasion in a single quarter in this city’s recorded history.
Source: Subway Fare Evasion Reports - NYPD
May 2023- REPORT OF THE BLUE-RIBBON PANEL on MTA Fare and Toll Evasion
- The evidence is alarming: Fare and toll evasion have reached crisis levels in New York – with revenue losses approaching record levels of nearly $700 million – threatening the public transit system, and tearing at the social fabric of New York.
- The MTA’s dollar losses to fare and toll evasion for 2022 were $690 million. That includes $315 million in evasion losses on the buses; $285 million on the subways; $46 million at the bridges and tunnels; and $44 million on commuter rail. On the buses and subways in particular, evasion levels have spiked since the pandemic
- The farebox – all fares paid on the subway, bus, LIRR, Metro-North Railroad, and Staten Island Railway– currently supplies 24% of the MTA’s budget, amounting to $4.6 billion annually.
- So of the roughly $5B annually that the MTA makes at the farebox/turnstile, they lose not even $1B ($690M) fare evasion
NYCTA Rules of Conduct & Fines
MTA Nabs Federal Money to Study the New Psychology of Fare Beating | THE CITY — NYC News
Rider Safety
RIDER SAFETY
D12M: Stop the Frisks, Stop the Fares (2024)
“The Crime of Being Short $2.75”- A Report by Community Services Society (2017)
NYPD Criminal Court Summons Incident Level Data (Year To Date)
03/05/25 NYT Article- One Hopped Turnstile, 9 Police Bullets, 4 People Shot.pdf
Article on the mass shooting by NYPD in pursuit of fare (September 2024) – Solution Times Issue #54: Police Terror on the MTA
Transit Worker Safety
TRANSIT WORKERS SAFETY
Free Fares & Safer Working Conditions
A Year Without Fares: Lessons From New York’s Free Bus Pilot | The Nation
- Across the five routes we made free, assaults on bus operators dropped by 38.9%.
- J.P. Patafio, a TWU Local 100 vice president who represents bus operators in Brooklyn, put it this way: The “fare box is responsible for 50 percent of the assaults on my operators. Free bus service would make my bus operators’ job much safer.”
OP-ED: Assaults against MTA bus drivers continue to rise
- On average, about three MTA drivers are assaulted every month and about 19 drivers report getting harassed every week.
Study finds nearly 90% of NYC transit workers have been harassed or assaulted.
- The study, led by researchers at the NYU School of Global Public Health, found that 89% of public-facing transit workers in New York City experienced harassment or violence on the job during the pandemic (2020–2023).
Fare-Free Transit Evaluation Framework (2023) - Chapter 3
- Eliminating fares removes the primary source of disputes between passengers and transit staff, leading to fewer confrontations and a safer work environment. Fare evasion can lead to confrontations and unsafe situations for transit workers. By removing fares, the potential for such conflicts is eliminated, contributing to a safer environment for both staff and passengers.
- Without the need for fare collection, boarding processes become more streamlined, reducing delays and allowing transit workers to focus more on safe operation rather than fare enforcement. Studies have shown that fare-free policies can lead to a decrease in security incidents. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kansas City's RideKC transit system reported a 39% drop in security incidents after implementing a zero-fare program.
TWU Local 100
How Roger Toussaint Won the Transit Strike - New York Magazine - Nymag
- Two days before the strike, Toussaint polled his membership: Seventy-three percent wanted to strike. “That is a pretty shocking number,” notes Toussaint. The rank and file wanted “to push back against those who push all the time,” he says. “The sentiment became ‘Bring it on.’ ”
- In addition to an 11 percent wage hike over three years, he secured lifetime health insurance for retirees (crucial to those retirement dreams) and a refund of previous pension contributions that, according to union calculations, is worth more than $150 million to 22,000 union members.
Union chief known for militant stance | Vindy Archives
Remembering the Bravery of Mike Quill and TWU Local 100
- TWU rank and file members—33,000 strong—walked off their jobs, shutting down subways, buses and even private bus lines. Six million commuters had nothing to ride. It is estimated the strike cost the city nearly $100 million a day in lost business.
- 1966: The TWU's Finest Hour
1966 transit strike: NYC’s 12-day shutdown in history
- Those 12 days in 1966 were estimated to have cost the region’s economy about $1.2 billion, according to a subsequent New York Times report. It led to the creation of the state’s Taylor Law, which set new rules for negotiations with public employees and made penalties for illegal strikes smaller but easier to enforce.
- The shutdown was devastating for the city’s economy. About five million people typically took the subway or bus daily during rush hour on weekdays. Some school children missed up to nine days of class. High school students were allowed to go to the nearest school they could reach, causing significant overcrowding.
Who Will Pay The Fare?
WHO WILL PAY THE FARE? THE CORPORATIONS & THE RICH!
Corporations Pay Their Fare
A Year Without Fares: Lessons From New York’s Free Bus Pilot | The Nation
- We can make all New York City buses free for just under $800 million, or $50 million less than what New York spent on the new Buffalo Bills stadium.
APTA- Economic Impact Of Public Transportation Investment
Community Service Society- The Unheard Third: When You Can’t Afford the Fare
- It is a $1.5 trillion asset1 generating an annual economic value of $1.7 trillion—bigger than the Gross Domestic Product of the entire country of Canada.
- Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, however, cannot fully take advantage of the mass transit system as the gateway to economic opportunity that it is because they cannot afford the fare.
The Long-Shot Case for Making NYC Public Transit Free_
- But the MTA earns a substantial amount of its operating revenue from the farebox—about $6.2 billion annually (2019)
- She sees “a lot of untapped” revenue sources that could potentially help cover the costs of free or discounted fares, primarily in the form of taxing the institutions that benefit most from public transit, such as private universities, businesses or real estate interests.
- London’s Crossrail, for instance, was funded in part by taxing London businesses in areas benefited by the network, she says, while other places have instituted similar fees on property owners based on how close their buildings are to public transit stations.
Fitch Affirms MTA's Transportation Revenue Bonds at 'AA'; Outlook Stable
Cities around the world that have made public transit free
MTA Debt
What it will cost to expand fair fares
- Assuming half of eligible participants enroll, IBO estimates that the annual cost to the City would be approximately $26 million for fare-free local bus service, $40 million for fare-free local bus and subway service, and $67 million for fare-free local bus service, subway service, and Access-A-Ride paratransit. These estimates include city-provided fare reimbursements to the MTA of between $12 and $32 million, estimated new Fair Fares administrative costs of $13 million, and for the third scenario, an increase to City’s paratransit operating subsidy of $21 million. It is important to note that these estimates are for the cost of expanding Fair Fares, and therefore do not include the cost of the current Fair Fares program for low-income New Yorkers, which was funded at $75 million in Fiscal Year 2023.
Financial Outlook for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority— 2024
- The MTA must use this substantial increase in resources to execute its most critical goal: bringing riders back to the system. The MTA assumes it will reach 80 percent of pre-pandemic ridership by the end of 2026, the revenue from which is needed to balance its budget in the outer years of the financial plan.
- 39 percent of the MTA’s 2024 revenues are expected to come from fare and toll revenue (26 percent and 13 percent, respectively).
- By comparison, in 2019, more than half of the MTA’s revenues came from fares and tolls.
- Dedicated taxes enacted by the State will account for 44 percent of total revenue, up from 37 percent in 2019, and State and local subsidies and other funding agreements will contribute another 7 percent.
- In 2024, total revenues are expected to rise by 7.7 percent to $18.7 billion as tax revenues increase 15.2 percent and farebox rise by 10 percent.
- Tax revenue is expected to increase by an average of 6.6 percent annually between 2023 and 2027.
- MTA sources of revenue
- 39% from FARES AND TOLLS (26% & 13% respectively)
- 44% from city and state taxes
- “with respect to Fair Fares being a step toward the elimination of any cost barrier to accessing public institutions meant to serve the people, corporations being expected to take on the burden of paying the fare would result in them contributing to 26% of the MTA revenue through additional taxes while instead of us contributing 72% of the MTA’s revenue, we would then contribute to 57% of it. those corporations that benefit the most from public transportation in nyc could also be an untapped potential for funding for the expansion of Fair Fares which is currently funded at $115M from the city budget to serve 500,000 New Yorkers”
Financial Outlook for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - October 2018
- Weekday subway on-time performance fell from 87.7 percent in 2010 to 63.4 percent in 2017, the lowest in decades. Ridership has declined for the past two years despite the largest job expansion in the City’s history, and the MTA expects ridership to fall by another 2.1 percent in 2018. The MTA attributes the decline to fare evasion, service disruptions from planned maintenance and repair, poor service and competition from for-hire vehicles, such as Uber and Lyft.
- As shown in Figure 12, more than half of the MTA’s revenues in 2019 are expected to come from fare and toll revenue (39 percent and
12 percent, respectively). Dedicated taxes enacted by the State will account for more than one-third of total revenue (36 percent), and State and local subsidies will contribute another 8 percent. Other operating revenues, such as advertising income, will make up 5 percent.
MTA Structure
MTA x FARE EVASION
https://www.mta.info/document/165071
- Proposed MTA budget plan (made in feb) for 2025-2028
- We can put some pressure on them releasing the “other” funding sources they don’t disclose
- MTA gets $5.2 billion from fares alone (not including tolls!) yet pocket watching for the $700 million that they loss to fare evasion.
- They rely on us perceiving $700 million as a huge number when it’s only 14% of their fare revenue.
- 46.2% of MTA revenue coming from NYCT
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transit in the New York metropolitan area. It oversees subways, buses, commuter railroads, bridges, and tunnels across New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and Connecticut.
- Chairperson & CEO: Appointed by the Governor of New York and confirmed by the State Senate.
- Board of Directors: Composed of 21 members (17 voting and 4 non-voting). Members are nominated by the Governor and recommended by NYC's mayor and officials from surrounding counties.
- State & Local Oversight: The MTA reports to New York State but also works with local governments.
The MTA consists of several subdivisions, each managing different transit services:
A. New York City Transit (NYCT)
- Operates the subway system (A, B, C, etc.).
- Runs MTA buses (local and express buses in NYC).
- Manages Access-A-Ride (paratransit for disabled passengers).
B. MTA Bus Company
- A separate bus division consolidating seven private bus companies formerly contracted by NYC.
C. Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
- Commuter rail connecting NYC to Long Island.
D. Metro-North Railroad
- Commuter rail serving the Hudson Valley, Connecticut, and NYC.
E. MTA Bridges & Tunnels
- Operates key NYC crossings like the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Bridge.
- Generates revenue that helps fund mass transit.
3. Funding & Revenue - MTA’s operating budget is $19.3 billion. (2022)
- Fares & Tolls: The primary revenue source, though it only covers a portion of costs.
- State & Federal Subsidies: The MTA receives funding from New York State, the federal government, and local municipalities.
- Congestion Pricing: An initiative to charge drivers entering Manhattan’s business districts to fund public transit improvements.
- Bond Financing & Taxes: The MTA issues bonds and receives money from taxes like the MTA Payroll Mobility Tax.
Contacting the MTA Board: their emails are not public.
To share your comments or concerns with the MTA Board, you can participate in public comments during board and committee meetings. These meetings are held in person at the MTA Board Room, 2 Broadway, 20th Floor, and are also livestreamed. Registration for public comments typically opens 35 minutes before the meeting starts and closes 5 minutes prior. You can register to speak either online or in person.
- Committee meetings and Board meetings for the MTA are public and take place within the same week (typically last week of the month) on Monday and Wednesday respectively at 2 Broadway Next public meeting