In Kansas City, Missouri, a $50 million free bus program has recently been forced to terminate due to insufficient funding. The groundbreaking “zero fare” experiment, the first of its kind in the United States, has attracted a lot of attention and scrutiny, especially in light of the similar proposal put forward by New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani advocates for implementing free bus services in the five boroughs of New York and has proposed the establishment of city-run grocery stores and other socialist-style initiatives. However, the experience in Kansas City has shown that while free buses were initially funded through federal aid at the onset of the pandemic, the local funding dried up, leading to a deterioration in service quality. The buses were criticized for being dirty and even becoming a “mobile homeless shelter.”
Mamdani previously spearheaded a pilot program in New York State in 2023, where each of the five boroughs had a free bus route. In an article published in The Nation magazine, he claimed that implementing free buses in New York on a larger scale was “more feasible than imagined.” However, an evaluation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) indicated that although ridership increased by 30%, most of the new passengers were actually existing bus users rather than the anticipated low-income new commuters. The program ultimately ended on August 31, 2024, exceeding its budget by $15 million.
Mamdani has called for increased capital expenditures related to buses but has not yet presented a specific amount.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa criticized the free bus idea as “impractical.” He stated, “I can only laugh because half of the passengers are already not paying fares, and I am the only candidate advocating for penalties or arrests for those who do not pay.”
As the New York mayoral election approaches, the feasibility of free buses is bound to become a critical point of debate between citizens and candidates.