Dozens of public transit riders and supporters gathered at a busy Brooklyn intersection on Sunday to urge elected officials and mayoral candidates to improve bus service on Flatbush Avenue.
Led by transit advocacy group, the Riders Alliance, the round-up, held outside of Prospect Park, wound up doubling as a political rally thanks to the attendance of two key candidates in the 2025 NYC mayor’s race: City Comptroller Brad Lander and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani. Both contenders said bus service has not improved in recent years, thanks in part to the current mayoral administration’s shortfalls, which include a lack of new bus lanes in city streets.
Riders Alliance members did not shy away from calling attention to what they called “dismal” public transit records from mayoral-race frontrunner and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Mayor Eric Adams.
Mamdani, who represents Astoria and neighboring communities, said NYC should not be a city where the average bus speed is 8 miles per hour.
“I am running proudly with public transit at the heart of this campaign’s message,” he said. “From the very beginning of this campaign, I have said that we are going to make the slowest buses in the country fast and free.”
Lander, not known for holding back his thoughts about the Adams’ administration, focused on the transit being at the heart of the city’s lifeline.
“Let’s be clear, mass transit is the lifeblood of NYC,” Lander said. “It is how hard-working New Yorkers every single day get to work, get to school, get home, get to park on a beautiful day like today.”
Meanwhile, riders at the rally were as concerned about their commutes as they were about politics. One rider, named Abbey, said she is disappointed that a Fordham Road busway that was once discussed within the Adams administration never came to fruition.
“I work in the Bronx and Manhattan, and rely on public transit to get me to my jobs every single day,” the Harlem resident said. “Instead of improvements, my Bx12 ride actually got slower.”
Last year, Riders Alliance and Pratt Institute surveyed 1,800 Flatbush Avenue bus riders, who overwhelmingly said that poor service had negatively impacted their lives.
The organization, which recently launched a “political arm,” doubled down on the importance of electing a mayor who supports public transit, including improvements along Flatbush Avenue—which is sometimes referred to as the spine of Brooklyn.
“We’re done waiting on better buses. We’re done waiting on a mayor who understands the plight of bus riders,” Betsy Plum, executive director of the Riders Alliance, said. “We’re here to demand that we get a real bus mayor. So, Riders Alliance has launched a political arm, and we’re going to be taking the power we built on the ground and we’re bringing it to the ballot box.”
A recent Riders Alliance press release explained that the organization’s political arm will illuminate candidates’ records and “inject its members’ plans to improve public transit into city and state races.
Plum, meanwhile, called out Adams’ “promise” to be the city’s bus mayor.
“He was meant to be implementing the NYC Streets Plan,” Plum said, referring to the 2019 plan designed for the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to install 10 to 15 new bus lanes each year. “He has woefully failed at that.”
She also said Cuomo’s record did not fare better.
“The mayor has a big role over buses because of city streets, but Andrew Cuomo still found ways to undermine the buses,” Plum explained, adding there were muliple projects where the former governor backed “NIMBY drivers over working New Yorkers” while he was governor.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign, said the former governor increased operational funding for the MTA by $2.4 billion annually and made a 125% capital investment increase from $24.27 billion to $54.8 billion.
“The politicians in this race attack Gov. Cuomo’s record because they have none of their own, even though they’ve been legislators, city wide elected officials or in some cases in office since before [the TV show] “Friends” hit the air,” he said.
amNewYork contacted Adams’ office for comment and is awaiting a response.
