Mamdani’s big NYC bus idea: More tickets for you, no gains for commuters

Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed he’d keep to six minutes in announcing his new faster-bus initiative — but damningly couldn’t even deliver that, running overtime despite wielding a stopwatch.

No shock there: The data show he and Gov. Kathy Hochul (alongside him for the announcement) won’t be able to deliver meaningful service improvements either — but only ding average New Yorkers who dare to drive on city streets.

The plan sounds OK on paper: New routes to save riders six minutes per trip; better enforcement against violators who block bus lanes.  

But that time savings assumes a passenger rides a route end-to-end, when nearly no one does; per straphanger advocates Passengers United, that means the time saved will be less than half of what the mayor and gov pretend. 

Worse, the plan eliminates bus stops — adding commute time for many riders. (The real issue, per Passengers United Vice Chair and MTA vet Allen Rosen, is lack of bus-route management staff.)

Mamdani and Hochul say new ticketing cameras will help cover the $882 million cost — but maybe issuing those tickets is the real point.

Witness congestion pricing: It has purportedly eased traffic slightly in the zone south of 60th St. in Manhattan, but also worsened air quality in The Bronx, which “won” much of the diverted traffic. 

But the MTA spent the winter crowing about how much money it had brought in, not the transit benefits. 

That shows again the ideological blindness of progressives in Gotham: They refuse to see cars as a vital part of city life, especially for less-affluent, less-white outer-borough nabes.

So they keep imposing “sin taxes” on motorists.

Add in paydays: Verra Mobility runs the ticketing cameras and got a fat contract on the back of the bus initiative; it’s a major donor to anti-car advocacy outfit Transportation Alternatives, with its deep links to the Mamdani administration. 

And if the ticketing cameras don’t deliver the needed revenue, taxpayers cover the shortfall.

By the way: Will anti-cop Mamdani crack down on fare enforcement on these rapid routes? Unpunished farebeating punishes the MTA’s budget to the tune of nearly $1 billion and ensures thugs and crazies fill the system.

All signs are that this project will wind up as yet one more way Mamdani & Co plan to make life worse for anyone outside their white, rich voter base.