New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have to put the brakes on his idea to make buses free in the Big Apple.
Speaking to reporters at a Nov. 8 news conference, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she “cannot put forward a plan at this time that would take money out of a system that depends on bus and subway fares.”
But Hochul left open another possibility.
“Can we find a way to make it more accessible to people in need? Of course we can,” she said.
Hochul was speaking on the final day of the annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where leaders and officials from New York and Puerto Rico meet to strengthen ties and strengthen the Latino community.
Here’s what you need to know.
Then New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gets off the M57 bus on his way to a press conference in 2025. October 8 in New York. Mamdani was joined by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Comptroller Brad Lander, Transit Workers United Kingdom President John Samuelson and Mobilization Coordinator, Workers of America 1180 Helen Jarrett rode the M57, the slowest bus in New York City, to talk about the need for a campaign promise of fast and free bus service.
What is Zohran Mamdani’s Free Bus Plan?
During the mayoral race, Mamdani made a big deal about providing “fast and free” buses to the city. October 8 he even publicized the idea by riding a local bus to a press conference about the proposal. As if proving Mamdani’s point that the service needs improvement, the bus was 25 minutes late.
Mamdani told several media outlets that New York has the “slowest buses in the country.” He said it shouldn’t be.
“Eight miles an hour,” he told NBC New York as he rode the bus with a reporter and videographer who captured the scene. “We could do this interview with him and still get in front of the bus.”
The solution? He said that buses should be free so that people don’t have to queue and that they can use every bus entrance at every stop.
When one local woman questioned the practicality of the plan, pointing out that buses would run even slower if they were free because more people would ride them, Mamdani was quick to respond.
“You can’t do it alone for free,” he said. “You’ve got to make it free, and actually build the infrastructure to make it fast. So you’ve got to scale up the service, make it free, and make sure you get full use of all-door boarding, because a lot of the problems with bus stop times are because everyone has to go through the front door.
When a reporter pointed to Mamdani to turn the free buses into a Metro transit agency, he pointed to former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was responsible for building the subway station. “The city has a lot of power to influence what the MTA does, it’s just that we haven’t had a mayor who really cares that much about the slowest buses in the United States,” he told NBC New York.
Zohran Mamdani waves next to her mother Mira Nair on stage after winning the 2025 New York’s mayoral election night rally in Brooklyn, New York.
How much would free buses cost in New York?
Mamdani’s campaign estimated that making the bus system free would cost about $800 million a year.
Can New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Stop Mamdani’s Free Bus Plan?
It’s unclear whether Hochul can stop Mamdani’s plan entirely, but one expert told CBS News that without her support, it would be much more difficult.
“He’s going to need support from the MTA and the state legislature. Really, the governor,” said JC Polanco, a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in the Bronx. “Is (Hochul) raising taxes? She already said no to that.”
What will happen now?
Mamdani’s team did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on whether he would continue to pursue free bus tickets.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, was just elected on Nov. 4, beating out former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. He officially takes office in 2026. January 1
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York governor blocks Zohran Mamdani’s free bus plan