Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani once again called for free buses and reliable service at a Wednesday afternoon press conference, highlighting what is considered the slowest bus route in New York.
Mamdani rode the M57 through Midtown Manhattan on Oct. 8, more than a month after a study released by City Comptroller Brad Lander’s office found that the route had the lowest average speed in the city at just 4.9 mph.
Lander’s report on Sept. 4, dubbed Life in the Slow Lane: A Report Card for NYC Buses, graded the city’s bus lines in terms of efficiency, with 186 lines receiving an unsatisfactory “D” or “F” grade. It concluded that more than half of the city’s 332 bus lines received a “D” or worse, and more than 70% Manhattan bus lines received an unsatisfactory grade, the worst result of any borough.
In fact, Wednesday’s press event seemed to flatter Lander’s report. Mamdani took the slow M57 to Wednesday’s press conference at Sutton Place near the East River waterfront — and wound up being more than 20 minutes late for the start of the event.
“I spent the last 45 minutes or so riding the M57, the slowest bus in New York City,” Mamdani said at Wednesday event.
The Queens Assembly member has made free buses a cornerstone of his election campaign, but said Wednesday that there is little use in making buses free if service remains slow and unreliable. He pledged to implement major bus arteries across Manhattan, expanding on the “success” of the 14th Street Busway, which limits the corridor to buses, trucks, and emergency vehicles between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
Mamdani also pledged to introduce traffic signal prioritization for buses across the five boroughs as a means to speed up bus service.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who also spoke at Wednesday’s event, said eliminating bus fares would speed up bus service by reducing the time it takes for a bus to stop at each stop.
At present, Nadler said, buses are often held up because passengers have to wait in line to pay their fares while boarding at the front of the bus.
“Boarding becomes seamless without the time lost in fare collection at every stop,” Nadler said Wednesday. “Passengers can be boarded through every door, not just the front, dramatically reducing the time buses spend at each stop.”
Lander, who also spoke at Wednesday’s event, said many New Yorkers can walk faster than some of the city’s worst-performing bus lines and also argued that free buses would provide a solution to slower service across the city. Eliminating bus fares would improve speed by up to 12%, he added.
“The one thing that speeds buses up is making them free,” Lander said. “Because if you don’t have that slow each person getting on the front of the bus and waiting, (and if) you don’t have the problem that bus operators have to be the ones to enforce the fare at the front of the bus, you dramatically reduce the amount of time buses spend boarding.”
Mamdani pointed to the fare-free buses pilot program that he co-sponsored with Queens state Sen. Mike Gianaris as proof that free buses can have a transformative impact on bus riders across the city.
The program, which made one bus line in every borough free between September 2023 and August 2024, saw a 38% increase in ridership along those lines, according to Mamdani. He added that the pilot saw a 12% increase in new bus riders as well as a 38.9% reduction in assaults on bus drivers.
“This is a policy that is for those who drive the bus, those who ride the bus, and everyone in between,” Mamdani said Wednesday.
He said the program, which will cost the city roughly $700 million, will help put $2,000 back in the pockets of commuters who use city buses every day.
John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), said fareless buses can help reduce assaults on drivers by eliminating disputes over fare evasion.
Samuelsen said an average of five drivers are assaulted every week due to fare disputes and dissatisfaction over bus service. He said drivers are the “uniform face” of poor service and often take the brunt of customer dissatisfaction.
“There’s a lot of compelling reasons to do it (make buses free),” Samuelsen said. “But the most compelling reason is the humanity of eliminating the assault against TWU members. It’s five a week. It’s outrageous.”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who Mamdani defeated in the Democratic primary in June, has since proposed making buses and subways free for low-income New Yorkers by expanding the existing Fair Fares program and providing free travel to residents on a means-tested basis.
Mamdani said Wednesday that he also wants to expand the Fair Fares program, but added that making buses free for all New Yorkers would “deliver” for more than one million residents by providing economic relief, enhanced public safety, and environmental benefits.
He said the pilot program has shown that increased ridership leads to improved public safety for individuals riding the bus in the city.
