Newly Vaccinated Can Get Free B.C. Transit Ride

People who use Broome Transit can get a free ride on the bus if they show proof they got a vaccination against COVID-19 between now and July 14.

B.C. Transit is one of six public transportation providers outside of New York City partnering with New York State to offer unlimited seven-day public transportation passes.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement June 14 saying “anyone who receives their first doses of Pfizer or Moderna or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at any provider in New York State between June 15 and July 14 and presents proof of vaccination at a participating transportation redemption center no later than July 14 will receive an unlimited seven-day public transportation pass for a participating provider’s transit network.”

Other participating providers are: Capital District Transit Authority, Greater Glens Falls Transit, Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit.

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Officials say those six public transportation systems provided a combined total of 46 million trips pre-pandemic in 2019.

Cuomo is pushing his goal of getting 70 percent of adult New Yorkers with at least one dose of a COVID vaccine in order to be able to lift the majority of restrictions that were put in place to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

As of the June 14 update, New York was tantalizingly close at 69.9% percent of adults over the age of 18 at least partially vaccinated. 61.3% of New Yorkers age 18 and over are fully vaccinated. 50% of all New Yorkers, including those age 12 to 17, have been completely vaccinated.

Governor Cuomo, in trying to convince those who are still hesitant to get vaccinated, says "The vaccine continues to be our single best weapon against the virus.."