The MTA will offer five free bus routes as part of a pilot program that will begin in late September, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday. 

A bus route in each borough will be included in the pilot program. The routes that were selected are the Bx18 (A and B), the B60, the M116, the Q4 (local and limited), and the S46 and S96.

The pilot program will last six to 12 months and serve 439,000 riders daily, Hochul said in a news release. 

“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,” Hochul said in a statement. “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 buses included in the program will be marked “Fare Free,” with “green-and-black-colored signage, digital signage onboard buses, decals inside the bus, and covers on the farebox and OMNY readers,” the release said. 

The free bus routes will not include free transfers to other buses or subway lines, according to officials. 

According to officials, the bus routes were chosen based on “ridership, fare evasion, service adequacy, equity for low-income and economically disadvantaged communities, and access to employment and commercial activity.”

“Our team worked hard to ensure the five routes that were chosen for this pilot will benefit New Yorkers who rely on buses to get them where they need to go,” New York City Transit President Richard Davey said in a statement.