Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani stated Wednesday that he’ll recurrently commute to Metropolis Corridor by bus, subway and bicycle if he’s elected.
“Every now and then, absolutely, you have to move around the city the way New Yorkers do,” Mamdani instructed reporters when requested if he’d take public transit and bikes to work as mayor.
Mamdani, who’s polling because the front-runner to win November’s mayoral election, added a caveat, although.
“With the kind of death threats that have become part of public life, my public life, it just means you have to think through a couple more steps when you’re making this [type of commute],” he stated, “but it doesn’t change the way you move through the city.”
Mayor Adams, who deserted his reelection bid final month amid report low approval scores, made an analogous commuting pledge earlier than he took workplace in January 2022, although he has largely been pushed to work by his NYPD safety element.
Mamdani made his commuting promise whereas driving the M57 — a crosstown Manhattan bus route that ranks as the town’s slowest — to spotlight the necessity to enhance native bus transit and make it fare-free, a key plank in his marketing campaign platform.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani rides the M57 bus on October 8, 2025. (Chris Sommerfeldt/NYDN)
Mamdani’s plan to make buses free hinges on a proposal to generate billions of {dollars} in new income from tax will increase on New York’s millionaires and companies, a transfer that may require approval from the state. Critics, together with unbiased mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, have panned Mamdani’s plan as unrealistic, saying there’s no approach Gov. Hochul will assist him approve such tax hikes as she faces her personal tough reelection race subsequent 12 months.
Mamdani has not too long ago acknowledged he might have a plan B because it pertains to new income, but additionally says he’s inspired by the state Legislatures two high Democrats, Assemblyman Carl Heastie and state Sen. Andrew Stewart-Cousins, popping out in favor of his taxation plan.
On Wednesday, Mamdani concluded his M57 experience — which took practically 40 minutes from W. 72nd St. to E. fifty fifth St. — with a rally the place he was joined by Manhattan Congressman Jerry Nadler, Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander and different supporters who spoke in favor of his push for making the town’s public buses free.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani rides a motorcycle by way of Midtown on October 8, 2025. (Chris Sommerfeldt/NYDN)
In the course of the experience, Mamdani drew heckles from a lady shouting “communist” at him repeatedly as he biked by way of Midtown along with his NYPD safety element.
Additionally in the course of the experience to his places of work, Mamdani stated constructing extra bus lanes is as vital as making the buses free. “What good is a free bus if it’s a slow bus?” he stated.
Mamdani blasted Adams for failing to make good on bus lane building benchmarks set out by the town’s 2019 Streets Grasp Plan.
However he didn’t fault officers on the metropolis’s Division of Transportation, who’re in command of bus and bike lane building, arguing they have been blocked from doing their work by Adams and his political appointees at Metropolis Corridor, as highlighted in former chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin’s latest corruption indictment.
In truth, Mamdani wouldn’t even rule out retaining Adams’ DOT commissioner, Ydanis Rodriguez, on the helm of the company if he wins the Nov. 4 election.
“I’m going to assess everyone on the basis of their work, on the basis of their merit, not on the basis of who appointed them,” he stated.
