"During a Jan. 8 TV interview, Hochul said she does not plan to include Mamdani's proposal, one of the central planks of his winning mayoral campaign, in her address. When asked by Pix11 host Dan Mannarino on Thursday whether fare-free buses would appear in her speech, the governor replied, Not at this time. But she also sought to emphasize that the proposal is by no means off the table."
"Mike Gianaris, the state Senate's Democratic deputy majority leader, who sponsored a pilot program for free buses on five lines in 2023, told amNewYork the governor's State of the State and executive budget proposal are just the beginning of the prcoess, not the end. He noted that Hochul supported the pilot program, which ended in September 2024, after the state legislature declined to extend it."
Governor Kathy Hochul will not include Mayor Zohran Mamdani's proposal to make city buses free in her upcoming State of the State address. During a Jan. 8 TV interview she said she does not plan to include the proposal and replied Not at this time when asked whether fare-free buses would appear. Hochul added that the proposal is not permanently off the table and that conversations are ongoing. Neither Hochul nor Mamdani mentioned the proposal at a congestion pricing anniversary event. Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec did not respond to requests for comment. State Senate deputy majority leader Mike Gianaris noted past support for a 2023 pilot and said budget negotiations could take months and may require more than one legislative session to pursue citywide free buses.
Read at www.amny.com
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