Gov. Kathy Hochul backtracked and admitted she is having conversations with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s team about his socialist freebie bus plan — despite initially slamming the brakes on it.
Hochul said it was too early to divulge any details on a potential deal or compromise, but confessed to Politico she was currently in talks regarding Mamdani’s $700 million call for free city buses.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has admitted that she is “having conversations” with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani about free buses. Matthew McDermott
“We’re having conversations with his team, I will say that,” Hochul said when asked about his campaign promise.
“We have a lot of alignment on the overall, overarching objective. When it comes to individual proposals, whether it’s child care — we’ve had conversations about what a rollout of that could look like,” she added.
“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.”
The remarks are an about-face from earlier this month when Hochul argued she’d already put vast sums of money into a cash-strapped MTA for major projects.
Zohran Mamdani smiles while riding a bus as part of his 2025 mayoral campaign. REUTERS
Hochul had previously argued that she’d already put vast sums of money into a cash-strapped MTA for major projects. Helayne Seidman
“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 at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico on Nov. 8.
“But can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.”