The reporters were waiting, and the bus was late.
As he has campaigned to be New York City’s next mayor, Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to make city buses “fast and free” has been among his splashiest. But while his push to eliminate fares has garnered the most attention, the other half of his plan would address an issue that governors, transit advocates and everyday New Yorkers have bemoaned for many years: The bus is too slow.
So on Wednesday, Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, rode the full route of the M57, a crosstown bus that traverses Midtown Manhattan and is one of the city’s slowest, to remind New Yorkers that he wanted to speed up their commutes. Awaiting him at the end of the line was a news conference with his supporters, two allied lawmakers and a host of journalists.
Perhaps fittingly, Mr. Mamdani arrived 25 minutes behind schedule.
“What good is a free bus if it’s a slow bus?” Mr. Mamdani said. “That’s why we are also fighting to make these buses fast.”
New York City’s bus system is a vital lifeline, particularly in parts of boroughs outside Manhattan that the city’s arterial subway system does not reach. Buses generally serve New Yorkers who are older and poorer than those riding the subway. And because most subway stations lack elevators and are not fully accessible, buses provide valuable connections for many New Yorkers with mobility issues.
Those riders are increasingly frustrated. New York has some of the slowest buses in the nation, with a citywide average speed of about 8 miles per hour. Though both Mayor Eric Adams and his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, vowed to speed them up, progress, like many of the buses, has been behind schedule.
Mr. Adams, in particular, pledged to create 150 miles of bus lanes in four years, and has fallen far short. His administration has also stalled projects meant to help boost transit use, notably rolling back a plan to address bus infrastructure on Fordham Road in the Bronx.
Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, wants to build more dedicated bus lanes across the city and create more busways, which severely restrict local car traffic, on major arteries. He also wants more dedicated bus loading zones on city streets.
Sitting in a window seat, Mr. Mamdani said Wednesday that if elected, he would be willing to commute by bus, subway or bike from Gracie Mansion to City Hall. He said he had “the fondest memories” of the M60 bus, which runs from the Upper West Side through Harlem and across Queens on its way to LaGuardia Airport.
“It’s one of the fastest buses that I’ve been on in New York City,” he said.
On Wednesday, he had the opposite experience. A recent report by the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, found the M57 to be the slowest bus route in the city, traveling across 57th Street at an average speed of 4.9 m.p.h.
During Mr. Mamdani’s ride, which occurred in the early afternoon, the bus moved even more slowly. It took all of 26 minutes to travel one mile, at a speed of about 2.3 m.p.h.
“It is pretty slow,” said Missy Krantz, who hopped on the bus on the Upper West Side and jumped off at 57th Street and Third Avenue.
On a bus packed with reporters, photographers and Mr. Mamdani’s aides, Ms. Krantz was one of the few riders just trying to get on with her day. At one point, a man at the back of the bus had to elbow past an impromptu press gaggle so he could get off at his stop.
Ms. Krantz had been surprised to see Mr. Mamdani on board, she said. When he sat down facing her, the two of them chatted for a few moments about the candidate’s views on Israel.
Ms. Krantz said that she was unsure who she would vote for next month, but that she was glad to have spotted Mr. Mamdani on her commute. “For sure nice to have a conversation,” she said.
For the rest of the ride, Mr. Mamdani shook hands with New Yorkers, talked to them about their commutes, explained his bus plan and posed for photos as reporters standing in the aisle lurched forward with every stop.
Even as he focused on bus speed, Mr. Mamdani said that eliminating bus fares for all New Yorkers was still at the center of his transportation plan. His campaign has said doing so would cost the city less than $800 million annually.
Some transit advocates have expressed skepticism about making buses free, arguing that the revenue lost from subsidizing the bus could be better spent on improving service.
And Mr. Mamdani’s rivals have attacked the plan as impractical. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as a third-party candidate, has proposed making buses free only for the poorest New Yorkers, arguing that taxpayers should not be subsidizing transit for those who can afford it.
At the news conference after the bus ride, Mr. Mamdani accused Mr. Cuomo of being out of touch with transit riders. “Andrew Cuomo likely would not even be able to know how to ask the bus to stop,” he said at the news conference. “And New Yorkers cannot count on him to stop their costs from soaring.”
Stefanos Chen contributed reporting.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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