![\"Zohran](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC_7858.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
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Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani rebuffed MTA CEO and Chair Janno Lieber\u2019s criticsm of his free bus plan. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee and frontrunner, dismissed on Thursday MTA<\/a> Chair Janno Lieber\u2019s recent criticism of his signature campaign promise to make buses operated by the agency free.<\/p>\n Lieber is one of a number of critics of Mamdani\u2019s fare-free bus plan. As amNewYork reported Wednesday in an in-depth examination of the plan<\/a>, skeptics say Mamdani faces numerous challenges to fulfilling this campaign promise \u2014 from financing operations without a state-approved tax increase, to wresting control of the bus system away from the MTA.<\/p>\n During a Thursday afternoon Brooklyn campaign stop, Mamdani responded to Lieber\u2019s comments <\/a>from earlier this week on NY1, stating\u00a0that his free bus proposal needed to be studied far more thoroughly.<\/p>\n \u201cAny change of the scale that\u2019s being talked about, taking a section of our incredibly important transit system and changing it entirely has to be studied,\u201d Lieber said, noting that the MTA studied the potential impact of the congestion pricing program for five years before implementing it.<\/p>\n The MTA boss said such a review is necessary to understand if the MTA needs to run more buses, bring extra depots online, and account for a loss in subway fare revenue as well.\n<\/p>\n But Mamdani \u2014 who is also a democratic socialist Queens Assembly member \u2014 said on Oct. 30 that he heard many similar criticisms when pushing for a free bus pilot program<\/a> in Albany. The pilot saw the MTA make one bus line in each of the five boroughs free for a year.<\/p>\n The test run ended in the summer of 2024<\/a>, with the MTA declaring it a failure because it slowed average bus speeds, despite more regular riders boarding each route.<\/p>\n During the Thursday press gaggle, Mamdani didn\u2019t offer any new information about his bus plan \u2014 but he said he took comments criticizing his bus vision with \u201ca grain of salt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI take things that are said with a grain of salt about the lack of changing the way that we do things here in New York City,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cWhen we were pushing for free buses in Albany, these were a lot of the same concerns that were raised at the time, and we won the first free buses in New York City history. We made one bus route free in every single borough.\u201d<\/p>\n Lieber also aired concerns about subsidizing bus fares for those who can afford to pay, saying he prefers the city\u2019s means-tested Fair Fares program<\/a>, which provides half-fare rides to low-income New Yorkers up to 145% of the federal poverty level. Mamdani\u2019s chief rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has mounted a similar criticism against his free bus plan.<\/p>\n Mamdani also stood by his campaign\u2019s $700 million-a-year cost estimate for making buses free, in response to Lieber\u2019s prediction that it will bear a price tag closer to $1 billion. A 2023 Independent Budget Office analysis<\/a> estimated the expected price tag at a minimum of $652 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI continue to be confident in our cost estimates,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cI think that much of the estimates that are being put forward are more of hypotheticals than actually realistic assessments of where we are in this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that he is \u201cexcited to work with\u201d Lieber.\n<\/p>\n The Democratic nominee has said he wants to fund the program \u2014 and other core campaign initiatives, such as free universal child care \u2014 by raising the state\u2019s corporate tax rate to 11.5% and personal income taxes on millionaires by 2%.<\/p>\n However, Mamdani needs Albany lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul to approve such a tax increase. While Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has said he supports raising taxes on the wealthy<\/a>, the governor \u2014 who is headed into a potentially tough reelection year \u2014 has said tax hikes are a nonstarter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even those who tacitly support free buses in New York noted that such a proposal comes with a hefty cost that someone will need to pay.\n<\/p>\n![\"MTA](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC09768-2.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber riding the subway on March 6, 2025.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n