Woke NYC mayor admits key campaign pledge that critics fear will ruin Big Apple WON'T happen this year
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted he will not be able to deliver on his key promise of free buses this year.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist campaigned on offering a plethora of freebies to New Yorkers, including free buses, childcare and grocery stores.
His free bus program could include using the taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) budget to slash the cost of fares.
Critics have slammed the proposal, arguing it would turn the city's buses into mobile homeless shelters.
However, after just four months in office, Mamdani failed to include the measure in the city's $127 billion budget proposal, according to the New York Post.
He was also unable to get state legislators, who oversee the MTA, to include it in their budget proposals.
'I’m absolutely committed to making buses fast and free, and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step,' Mamdani told Politico.
Instead, he boasted about a small pilot program for free buses that some lawmakers seemed interested in.
Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani campaigned on offering a plethora of freebies to New Yorkers, including free buses, childcare and grocery stores
However, after just four months in office, Mamdani has conceded free buses will not happen this year
'Both legislative houses included language within their one-house budget proposals in support of bringing back a free-bus pilot program,' Mamdani said.
'That is something that we are encouraged by, and it continues to be part of budget negotiations.'
While free buses is off the table for the foreseeable future, Mamdani did recently announce that he will open a free city-run childcare center in Manhattan's wealthiest neighborhood.
He said the new childcare center on East 65th Street on the city's ritzy Upper East Side it will accommodate 72 local four-year-olds and 60 three-year-olds.
But the announcement came as the city faces a $5.4 billion deficit, forcing the Mamdani administration to decide which of the Big Apple's 8.4 million residents gets free services.
Free 2-K plans are already in place for some neighborhoods - in March 2026, the office of the mayor announced four communities will receive 2,000+ free childcare seats for two-year-olds starting this fall.
That includes school districts in Washington Heights, Rockaway, Fordham, and Canarsie, among other areas. The Upper East Side has not yet been given these free childcare seats.
As for his free grocery store, sources told the New York Post that Mamdani is planning to spend $70 million on a 'feasibility study' into launching government-owned markets.
Mamdani did recently announce that he will open a free city-run childcare center in Manhattan's wealthiest neighborhood
Mamdani is also reportedly planning to spend $70 million on a 'feasibility study' into launching government-owned markets
The money would be used to fund the Economic Development Corporation, which will scout potential locations for his city-run grocery stores.
The stores were a central pillar of Mamdani's mayoral run last year, where he had claimed he could roll out the project for just $60 million in total.
Mamdani claimed the stores will keep grocery prices low because they would not pay property taxes or rent, and would be run by the government instead of by a for-profit company.
But his plans to splash out to merely see if they are 'feasible', while potentially raising property taxes, have sparked anger - with a source describing it as a 'textbook limousine socialist move.'
Meanwhile, Mamdani announced this week that he was rolling out a Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan (REP), a scheme to support 'underrepresented' business owners.
The plan was previously approved by New York voters in 2022 under a referendum, but former Mayor Eric Adams missed the deadline to release it.
The Commission on Racial Equity sued the Adams administration for failing to release the plan. Mamdani vowed to publish it during his first 100 days in office.
But according to sources inside the Mamdani administration, the Democrat understood the move would likely anger the Trump White House, which has targeted DEI efforts across the federal government.
The Daily Mail contacted Mamdani's office for comment.
