Mamdani struggles to explain how he’ll fund free buses

Throughout his campaign, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promised free bus rides for people in the Big Apple — but now that he’s won the election, he faces the practical problem of securing the funding to realize such a policy, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever be able to fulfill his pledge.

PIX11’s Dan Mannarino pressed Mamdani about how he plans to secure the money for the proposal if New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is not in favor of raising taxes.

Mamdani opined that the “clearest ways” to obtain the money would be by increasing the state’s corporate tax or through personal income tax on people who earn more than $1 million per year. But he added that “the most important fact is that we fund it, not the question of how we do it, but that we do it.”

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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is seen on Nov. 20, 2025 in New York City (BG048/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images via Getty Images)

Mamdani’s campaign has laid out proposals including “Raising the top state Corporate Tax rate to 11.5 percent” and “Adding a 2 percent New York City Income Tax for anyone making more than $1 million a year.”

The self-described democratic socialist trumpeted his free bus policy as a key plank of his Big Apple mayoral campaign.

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But when Mannarino asked Hochul earlier this year whether she’d support tax hikes, Gov. Kathy Hochul slapped down the idea, saying that she’s “not raising taxes on people at a time when affordability is the big issue.”

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a press briefing on progress in combating retail theft after state police recovered more than $2.6 million in stolen goods at Brooklyn Made market at City Point. ( Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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“Free buses are an investment in our people and our economy — helping workers, small businesses, and every New Yorker who deserves a more connected city,” Mamdani said in a Thursday post on X.