Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pressing the governor’s office to make all New York City buses free during the five weeks that FIFA World Cup matches are taking place in the region, as he seeks to drum up excitement for one of his key campaign promises, according to three people familiar with the discussion.
The pilot proposal is Mr. Mamdani’s boldest attempt to demonstrate the value of a permanently free bus service, at a time when state officials have been reluctant to back the plan, and transit advocates remain split.
The five-week pilot, which would take place from mid-June to mid-July, could generate buzz for free buses at a time when New York and New Jersey will be crowded with soccer fans. More than 1.2 million visitors are expected to travel to the region during the tournament, according to the host committee.
If the program were to succeed on such a prominent stage, it could increase political pressure to enact the proposal, which has been met with opposition from Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the bus service.
It is the state-led authority, not the city, that sets policies involving bus fares. The authority is currently focused on trying to recoup revenue by reducing fare evasion. And bus fares help cover a large share of its $21 billion annual operating budget.
The Daily News first reported on the discussions around the pilot program. The governor’s office and the M.T.A. declined to comment on the proposal.
Mr. Mamdani’s promise of “fast and free buses” was popular with voters and is central to his affordability agenda. One in five New Yorkers struggles to pay for public transit, according to a 2024 report by the Community Service Society of New York, an antipoverty group.
But Ms. Hochul has so far been unwilling to back Mr. Mamdani’s plans to make buses free and to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers.
The mayor’s challenges have been compounded by a bleak budgetary picture. Mr. Mamdani said last month that the city faced a $12 billion budget gap over the next two years. On Wednesday, he told legislators in Albany that projection had been revised downward to $7 billion, based on new economic data and more stringent savings plans.
In 2023, Mr. Mamdani, then a state assemblyman, successfully pushed for a limited free-bus pilot program, with one subsidized route in each borough. During the year the pilot program ran, it increased ridership and reduced the number of assaults on bus drivers, according to the M.T.A. But it did not increase the speed of service, which hovers around an average of eight miles per hour, among the slowest in the nation.
Speaking to state lawmakers on Wednesday about his budget priorities, at an annual hearing where mayors from around the state plead for funding, Mr. Mamdani said that the World Cup offered an opportunity “to not just introduce ourselves to the world, but also to reintroduce ourselves to ourselves.”
He did not mention making buses free while the games were being played in the region, but said that the spectacle would be a chance to transform public spaces and make the city feel welcoming.
The mayor defended his broader plan to make buses free. He said a citywide implementation would cost closer to $700 million a year, less than the $1 billion that the M.T.A. has estimated, and argued that there were a number of tax policies that could help pay for it.
He also noted on Wednesday the successes of the 2023 pilot, which he said helped take more drivers off the road and provided financial relief more efficiently than the city’s fare discounting program alone.
Supporters of the free bus plan point to the system’s high rate of fare evasion as proof that the $3 fare is an undue burden on riders. New York City buses carry 2.6 million riders on an average weekday, but nearly half of them evaded the fare last quarter, according to M.T.A. data.
Some transportation experts who otherwise support Mr. Mamdani’s public transit goals are wary of the free bus proposal, because, they say, such a large recurring sum of money could instead be spent on shoring up existing service or expanding the subway system to underserved parts of the city.
The World Cup games will be played from mid-June to mid-July at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., but New York is expected to benefit from a surge in tourism and related events.
Mr. Mamdani, who is an avid soccer fan, last month appointed Maya Handa, his former campaign manager, as the city’s World Cup czar. The men’s World Cup has not been held in the United States since 1994.
Stefanos Chen is a Times reporter covering New York City’s transit system.
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