In May 2023 Governor Kathy Hochul first announced the transit highlights of the FY 2024 Budget, which included $15 million to fund a pilot program providing free public buses to New Yorkers. The pilot launched in September 2023, with an initial run date of six to twelve months.
But state lawmakers are looking not only to extend the program for an additional year, but also triple the size of it.
The free bus pilot initially began as a way to get New Yorkers back onto the bus system after ridership levels dropped due to the pandemic. Since launching, the MTA has been evaluating the pilot on metrics such as ridership, scheduled service levels, bus speeds, security, and costs as a way to decide if the pilot should remain free for longer or revert to a paid service.
Now, as a response to NYC’s new congestion pricing plan, Queens Democrats state Senator Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani have introduced the Get Congestion Pricing Right bill.
NYC’s congestion pricing plan will bring a crucial amount of revenue to the MTA, but Mamdani emphasizes the importance of allocating that revenue correctly.
A statement on Get Congestion Pricing Right’s website reads:
Better buses are the specific key to getting congestion pricing right. Buses enable riders who live far from the subway to get to mid- and downtown Manhattan, and facilitate crosstown and inter-borough travel. But MTA buses are the slowest in the nation – crawling at 8 mph on average – and they aren’t reliable: 49% of bus riders are dissatisfied with wait time and 38% with service reliability.
The proposed bill would allocate $90 million to the MTA’s bus system to expand the service of the free bus pilot and increase NYC bus frequency and reliability as a whole.
Currently, the free bus pilot operates on one line in each borough–the M116 in Manhattan, the Q4 in Queens, the Bx18 in the Bronx, the B60 in Brooklyn, and the S46/96 in Staten Island. Routes were chosen based on a number of factors, which included considering low-income and disadvantaged communities and access to major employers and shopping centers.
If the Get Congestion Pricing Right bill is passed, the free bus pilot would be enacted on 15 additional lines, expanding to three in each borough rather than one.
The bill is currently in the hands of the State Senate Transportation Committee, and has not yet been presented in the Assembly.