One of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s big campaign promises was that under his leadership, everyone in the city would be able to ride “free” buses, but the idea is reportedly now on pause.
“Mamdani’s highly-touted demands for free buses has fallen to the wayside in both state and city budget proposals,” the New York Post reported on Wednesday.
Politico asked Mamdani about the status of his free bus proposal, but he only committed to a “pilot program” backed by the state—far short of his original promise.
“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,” Mamdani said Tuesday, according to Politico.
A free bus program would require additional aid from the state government. New York City Comptroller Mark Levine projected the current budget deficit at $6.5 billion, according to the Post.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has voiced opposition to the free bus idea. She said in November that she can’t commit because it “takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways.”
Even if the free bus proposal becomes a reality, there are serious questions about its long-term viability beyond the cost and what it will mean for the safety of passengers.
Mamdani wrote for the Nation in 2024 that there was evidence that free bus rides made passengers safer, based on evidence from a previous bus pilot program in New York.
However, City Journal cast doubt on Mamdani’s conclusions, which it said were based on a “small pilot program.” City Journal claimed that the decrease in assaults on the free buses happened as assaults dropped at a similar rate throughout the transportation system.
Other studies on “free” bus systems around the country have reported them to be failures.
“In Kansas City, the results were especially disastrous: homeless residents remained on buses all day, and while assaults on drivers declined, assaults on passengers went up,” City Journal noted in another report.
“In Boston, the city’s free buses were notoriously slow, ‘effectively canceling out the benefits of free fares,’ according to one local transit advocacy group.”