Mamdani’s plan for free buses in NYC hits pothole, told by Albany ‘just not financially feasible’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not pushing for free buses in the city this year.Mamdani’s three campaign promises were freeze the rent, universal daycare, and fast, free buses. As city and state budgets are tight, and disagreement among Democrats blocks Mamdani’s plan, he does not appear to be pushing for free buses to be implemented this year, POLITICO reported.
Mamdani told the news outlet on Tuesday that he is “absolutely committed to making buses fast and free.”
He has touted a universal daycare pilot as a win.
Meanwhile, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul support an expansion of a discount program for low-income subway and bus riders called Fair Fares.
While Mamdani has supported expanding the program, in 2024, he singled out Fair Fares as a “means-tested program [that] will never reach everyone they’re meant to.”
Fair Fares currently only offers half-price fares, serves about 400,000 people, and costs approximately $96 million a year. Expanding eligibility and offering free fares could cost at least $150 million or more, but that is if only half the people eligible actually sign up.
New York state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, who is chairman of the upper chamber’s Transportation Committee, said lawmakers want to make transit more affordable, but “making every bus in New York City free is just not financially feasible.”
“I would tell this to the mayor: I know you care about the most vulnerable,” Cooney said. “This is a way — working within the existing system — that we could increase support for the most vulnerable and start there, and then look to do an expansion of that.”
Cooney also said that while Mamdani has asked him for some things, he has not had a “direct ask” from the mayor about free buses.

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