Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a promise to make the city\u2019s buses \u201cfast and free\u201d \u2013 and that includes the pricier express buses that service some of the least transit-friendly neighborhoods in New York City, he confirmed for the first time last week.<\/p>\n
Unlike a typical Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus, the rides feature plush seats, fewer stops and cost $7.25 each way \u2014 on par with the Long Island Rail Road peak city fare.<\/p>\n
Average daily ridership for express buses is 60,000 across 80 routes, far below the more than 1 million average daily passengers on other city buses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely the vision that we\u2019ve spoken about when we say making every bus fast and free, that includes every bus, which means also express buses,\u201d Mamdani said last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The express bus, he said, was \u201ca real lifeline\u201d for him in 2017 when he was working on Khader El-Yateem\u2019s run for a City Council seat in Brooklyn\u2019s Bay Ridge while living in Upper Manhattan\u2019s Morningside Heights.<\/p>\n
But some express bus riders are more concerned about service than the fare \u2013 and fear making it free would turn things for the worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clarissa Chervoni takes an express bus most days from her home on Staten Island to lower Manhattan for \u201cpeace of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI could take the ferry and the local bus to get home, but I prefer not to,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I situate my money to accommodate that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chervoni thinks Mamdani\u2019s fare-free plan \u2013 which has been criticized by MTA President Janno Lieber \u2013 seems even more unappealing for express bus travelers like her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who pay for the express bus, which is the majority of the riders as opposed to the local riders, they\u2019re the ones that fund the MTA,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t imagine that they\u2019re going to stop payment on the express bus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Express buses have the lowest rate of fare evasion, according to MTA data<\/a>. In the final quarter of 2025, the fare evasion rate was 6.7%, up from 4.4% the previous quarter. That compares to an overall fare evasion for other buses that remained at 40% last year \u2013 with Select Bus Service having the highest rate at over 50%.<\/p>\n The promise of free buses also seems more far-fetched as the city has a continued budget deficit of more than $5 billion, with Mamdani proposing the \u201cnuclear\u201d option<\/a> of raising property tax rates to fill that gap if Albany won\u2019t agree to raise taxes on the rich.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without specifying what express buses would cost, the mayor has put the price of the overall free bus program at around $700 million in lost revenue. Lieber, however, said the price is more like $1 billion especially if ridership jumps when the charge disappears and the MTA need to run more buses and hire more drivers.<\/p>\n