Making city buses “fast and free” was a key piece of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, and the “fast” part of that pledge has thus far been a major focus of his administration since he took office — with his Department of Transportation working to add bus lanes where it can.
Bus lane expansion was something Hizzoner’s office touted as progress Thursday in the release of the first Mayor’s Management Report of his tenure. The municipal report card, which covers Fiscal Year 2026 — including the first six months of Mamdani’s term and the last six of his predecessor Eric Adams’ — shows that between July 1, 2025 and July 1 of this year, the city added 12 new bus lane miles.
Mamdani’s office counted that as a win since it was more than double the 5.5 miles that the city added in FY 2025. But that number was less than the city added in the previous fiscal year: nearly 16 miles — marking a 24% decline.
Transportation advocates noted the drop-off and expressed their displeasure while also imploring Mamdani to put the pedal to the metal when it comes to boosting those metrics.
Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Ben Furnas, in a statement, chalked what he described as “lackluster” numbers up to the report’s inclusion of the last six months of Adams’ administration.
“The new Mayor’s Management Report shows just how much room there is for improvement after the Adams administration’s repeated failures to build the safety infrastructure New Yorkers need,” Furnas said. “We hope these lackluster numbers will be a call to action for the Mamdani administration to build more and build faster, and we look forward to reading next year’s report filled with record-breaking progress.”
The city Department of Transportation has completed work on a double bus lane on Madison Avenue and a conversion to an offset bus lane on Lexington Avenue.Photo courtesy NYC DOT
City Council Transportation Chair Shaun Abreu similarly blamed Adams for the lagging progress on new bus lane miles. He, however, gave Mamdani and DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn kudos for setting a different course.
“Under the previous administration, the Department of Transportation consistently fell short on bus lane targets, and that performance is reflected in the new figures that span administrations,” Abreu said in a statement to amNewYork. “This year’s report shows movement in the right direction, and I credit Mayor Mamdani and Commissioner Flynn for getting critical projects that had been left to stall back on track.”
Abreu was referring to a slew of bus lane projects that Adams’ administration hit the brakes on, which Mamdani has since restarted. Those include efforts to add offset bus lanes and a busway on two critical east-west Bronx corridors: Fordham Road and Tremont Avenue respectively — both of which are currently under construction.
But Abreu tempered his praise by noting that doubling the FY25 new bus lane miles is hardly the same as meeting the bus lane targets set out in the Streets Master Plan, which required the construction of 30 new bus lane miles in 2026. The Adams administration consistently fell short of meeting the Streets Plan’s targets year after year.
He added that it should be possible to meet that target given the extra funding put toward DOT staffing and resources for adding bus lanes in this year’s city budget.
“By the end of the year, we will have a clearer picture of how many miles of bus lanes were actually built for 2026,” Abreu said. “With the historic funding the Council and Mayor secured in this year’s budget, this administration has the resources and staffing needed to build bus lanes at scale. We will keep the pressure on until the City is meeting every target.”