Kathy Hochul Backpedals, Confirms Discussions on Mamdani’s Free Bus Plan

Gov. Kathy Hochul acknowledged this week that she is in discussions with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s team about his proposal to make city buses free, marking a reversal from her earlier public stance rejecting the idea.

Mamdani, who takes office in January, campaigned on a $700 million plan to eliminate bus fares across the five boroughs, a policy he framed as a major step in reducing transportation costs for working families, as reported by The New York Post.

In an interview with Politico, Hochul confirmed that conversations are underway between her administration and Mamdani’s staff.

“We’re having conversations with his team, I will say that,” she said when asked directly about the proposal.

Hochul added that while formal details are not yet available, her administration and Mamdani “have a lot of alignment on the overall, overarching objective.”

She said similar discussions have taken place on several policy fronts, including child care. “When it comes to individual proposals, whether it’s child care — we’ve had conversations about what a rollout of that could look like,” Hochul said.

“Same thing with buses. What’s the overall objective here? Is it to make it more affordable for people that are struggling? That’s something I understand.”

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Her latest remarks contrast sharply with comments made earlier this month at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico, where she expressed concern about diverting money from the transit system, noting the state had already poured significant funds into the financially strained Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“We’re spending a lot of money, so I cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,” she said on Nov. 8.

She did, however, emphasize at the time that she supported improving affordability, saying, “But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.”

Hochul also made clear to Politico that implementing a statewide free-bus program is not feasible. Asked whether the plan would require raising taxes, she said, “Well, certainly statewide, to have all free buses, that’d be impossible.”

She added, “Let’s just figure out how we can take bites at the problem and start solving that.”

The governor noted that policy changes cannot be made solely for New York City. “I can’t do anything just for the city,” she said.

“So a city wants to do something, they want to do pilots, they want to do certain things, we can have the conversations with them, but policies overall happen statewide.”

The renewed discussions come as Hochul faces a more than $4 billion state budget shortfall next year and ongoing pressure to avoid tax hikes on high earners.

Though she previously vowed not to raise income taxes, she is reportedly having preliminary conversations about increasing the corporate tax rate to help close the deficit and cover potential costs of Mamdani’s free-bus proposal.

Hochul is up for re-election in 2026, and her handling of the state’s fiscal issues, as well as her approach to Mamdani’s transportation plan, is expected to play a central role in the political landscape leading into the next campaign cycle.

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