Mamdani Admits Free New York City Buses Won’t Happen in 2026
Gov. Kathy Hochul has engaged in talks with Mamdani, but in January, she said no free NYC buses for now.
New York City Zohran Mamdani admitted to Politico that his campaign promise for free buses won’t happen in 2026.
What a shock:
In Albany, no one has included the free bus plan in their budget proposals, and it seems like that’s not something that your administration is pushing hard for this year. Have you already accepted that might be something you’ll be pushing in 2027 instead of 2026?
Both legislative houses included language within their one-house budget proposals in support of bringing back a free-bus pilot program. That is something that we are encouraged by, and it continues to be part of budget negotiations. I’m absolutely committed to making buses fast and free, and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step.
Yeah, you are the mayor of the most important city in the country, but that doesn’t mean you can snap your fingers and everyone does as you say.
Nothing is free. Absolutely nothing. Even if no one left NYC, the city wouldn’t generate enough revenue to pay for all of Mamdani’s promises.
The mayor claimed his free bus program would cost between $600 million and $700 million. MTA countered the math because, well, if buses are free, then more people would ride them. So the actual cost would rise to $1 billion.
Mamdani has proposed that people who earn over $1 million a year pay a 2% city income tax surcharge and that larger companies pay a higher corporate tax rate.
However, Mamdani cannot enforce those tax changes without approval from the New York legislature. He’s attempted to use his pull by threatening a 9.5% property tax hike if the legislature won’t pass a wealth tax.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has engaged in talks with Mamdani, but in January, she said no free NYC buses for now:
The governor said she’d prefer to support New York City with budget deficits for other essential services like housing, education, and homelessness.
“The city’s going to need us for a lot of help this year,” Hochul said. “They’re going to be looking at where the gaps are, they’re going to be coming to us to ask for that kind of support… and I think that’s the primary conversations we’ll be having through the budget process.”
The thing is, when Mamdani made those campaign promises, he must have known he couldn’t do anything right away. There’s a process.
But most people think politicians can do whatever they want, so they accept campaign promises as reality.
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Comments
houchel got to him
she told him
loo we dont have the money now but when the congress/potus goes blue we get our money
There’s no such thing as a free bus.
Maybe so, but trains are a different story.
In the New York City subway system, approximately 475,000 to 500,000 rides are evaded every day by climbing over the turnstiles. This breaks down to roughly 330 fare evasions per minute across the system.
After doing a little research it appears that approximately one million people evade bus fares in New York City every day, according to early 2025 data. This means that nearly 48% of all bus riders board without paying — a rate significantly higher than the roughly 10% seen in the subway system.
This tracks with my observations when riding the NYC bus in the last year or two. About half the riders just walk past the driver with no attempt to pay and the drivers say nothing.
The drivers are under orders to say nothing, for fear that some crazy person will attack them.
This latest Manchurian is going down in flames yet doesn’t realize his rear-end is on fire. Reality is catching up to his Marxist fairy dust promises, not that he or his handlers care to notice.
He’ll fail up. Look for him to run for senator if AOC doesn’t. If not against Upchuck then against that loser AWFUL.
Here’s my shocked Pikachu face at the news…
A fiscally/economically illiterate, lazy, entitled, silver spoon-fed, private sector-avoiding, Islamofascist/Muslim supremacist/communist, enrolls in Budgeting 101, for the first time in his miserable, coddled life. On-the-job training, for this idiot.
And yet the guy was a city councilor for how long?
Makes you wonder if he did anything beside cash the checks.
Never. He served five years in the state assembly.
“ But most people think politicians can do whatever they want, so they accept campaign promises as reality”
Like maybe if he were King or something?
“Free New York City Buses Won’t Happen in 2026”
Or 2027, Or probably not ever.
But he’s mayor now, so… it worked, didn’t it?
He could let everyone ride free till the money to operate buses is gone, then give everyone free bicycles.
No, he can’t do that. He has no authority over the MTA.
He never promised buses would be free, he promised that he would push for the MTA to adopt that policy, and he has. So far it’s saying no. And Hochul, who could force it, is also saying no.
Looks like the Socialist ran out of other people’s money, at least for the moment
Nope. It’s not that he doesn’t have the money, it’s that he doesn’t have the authority, and he never claimed he did have it. His promise was always merely to advocate such a policy to the MTA. He’s done so, and its answer is no.
Looks like all the grifters who were counting on all the promised free stuff are going to have to flee NY too. The last to leave will probably steal the light instead of turning it off,
The light turned out to be just the PD down the block burning.
What is the plan for when the fast, free buses turn into fast, free crime- and drug-ridden rolling homeless shelters?
Blame the rich for not paying their fair share for buses they don’t ride.
NYPost: “The mother of soak-the-rich Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she was forced to flee the Big Apple and move to Florida because the property taxes were so high…”
Great! Another conservative emigre, right? 💩
He never promised to make them free. He promised to push for them to be free, and he is doing that. But it’s not something he can just order. The MTA doesn’t answer to him.