State lawmakers are pushing to bring back a fare-free bus pilot program as Mayor Zohran Mamdani presses ahead with his broader vision of eliminating bus fares across New York City.
The Democratic majorities in both the state Senate and Assembly included the pilot’s revival in their one-house budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2027, released this week. The Senate went further, calling for an expansion of the program beyond its original scope.
The pilot ran from 2023 to 2024, carrying a $15 million price tag and making one bus line free in each of the five boroughs. It died quietly in September 2024 after Albany declined to renew funding and the MTA declared it a failure. Now, with Mamdani in City Hall after building his winning mayoral campaign around fare-free transit, the program has new life in the budget conversation.
The state Senate’s one-house resolution made the case directly. “The Senate recognizes the importance of faster and more affordable buses to ensure that New Yorkers who rely on the system can get to their destinations quickly, safely, and in a way that does not burden New Yorkers already struggling to make ends meet,” the proposal reads. “Given these goals, the Senate continues to support a revival and expansion of the fare-free bus program.”
Mamdani, who sponsored the original pilot when he represented western Queens in the Assembly, welcomed the legislative support. “I’m also grateful to the legislature for extending the fare-free bus pilot program in both One-Houses; as one in five New Yorkers struggle to pay for public transportation, it is essential we take bold action and build a transit system all New Yorkers can afford,” the mayor said in a statement.
The mayor’s enthusiasm has not been matched by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has given his free bus proposal a cool reception. Her spokesperson Sean Buttler did not directly address the legislature’s push to restore the pilot. “Governor Hochul looks forward to negotiating with the legislature to reach a budget agreement that makes New York safer and more affordable,” Buttler said.
Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie face an April 1 deadline to reach a state budget deal, though recent years have seen that deadline slip.
The funding question sits at the center of the debate. The one-house proposals from both chambers call for tax increases on corporations and wealthy New Yorkers, a mechanism Mamdani has identified as essential to paying for his affordability agenda. Hochul has repeatedly rejected those proposals, creating a potential pressure point in negotiations.
For riders in the Bronx and other outer-borough communities that depend heavily on buses, the stakes are practical and immediate. Bus riders are disproportionately low-income New Yorkers who have no realistic alternative to transit. A monthly MetroCard represents a significant cost for families already stretched thin by housing, food and childcare.
Mamdani has been active in the Bronx on transit issues. He announced the restoration of four bus routes in the South Bronx back in February, a move that drew attention to how bus service cutbacks have hit the borough hard. Restoring routes and cutting fares address different parts of the same problem: a transit system that too often fails the people who need it most.
The original pilot drew mixed reviews. The MTA’s assessment that it failed to produce meaningful ridership gains gave critics ammunition, while supporters argued the program was too small and too short to yield real data. Mamdani has pushed back on the failure narrative, pointing to ridership increases on the pilot lines as evidence it worked.
Whether the governor agrees will shape what ends up in the final budget. Budget negotiations in Albany rarely proceed cleanly, and the fare-free bus question is now tangled up with larger fights over taxes, transit funding and who gets to define affordability in New York.
For Mamdani, the one-house proposals represent early validation that his transit agenda has traction in the Legislature. Turning that support into law will require Hochul’s signature, and right now she has not indicated she is ready to give it.
