Farewell, fare free-for-all.
The US city that inspired Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pie-in-the-sky idea to provide Big Apple commuters free bus service is now slapping fares back on riders after its $50 million experiment ran dry.
Kansas City, Missouri, brought bus fares back this month as its operating costs ballooned to about $15 million a year — nearly double the initial expected price tag, Bloomberg reported.
Kansas City brought fares back this month after its zero-fare transit program collapsed when funds dried up. James Keivom for NY PostThe zero-fare bus service was slammed by Missouri riders and conductors as unreliable, filthy, rolling homeless shelters once federal funds dried up – lining up exactly with what critics argued would happen if Mamdani’s mayoral campaign promise for free buses took root in the Big Apple.
“This is my shocked face,” Rich Azzopardi, the main mouthpiece for Mamdani’s campaign rival Andrew Cuomo, said sarcastically after learning the wheels fell off Kansas City’s bus program.
“The math was never going to work and for the good of New Yorkers, let’s hope this becomes yet another instance where Mamdani breaks his word — and while we’re at it he should ditch the nonsensical Soviet-style grocery stores too.”
A surge of federal COVID relief funds in 2020 helped make Kansas City the first in the nation to roll out free buses, sparking envy among progressive do-gooders such as Mamdani.
The program collapsed last year when the money ran out and operating costs ballooned to about $15 million a year. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
The zero-fare bus service was a centerpiece of Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. REUTERSSupporters of free buses argue it’d increase ridership, reduce climate change-fueling emissions and improve service by avoiding fare collection.
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority initially estimated it would lose out on about $8.8 million a year in fare revenue, but later found the true cost of running a free bus network skyrocketed to roughly $15 million annually partly due to unexpected costs and inflation.
Transit officials said the lofty program simply became too costly after the federal relief funds expired, and decided last year to scrap it.
“As we ran out of the money and the support, we were forced to make more service cuts or move to fares to support those services,” Tyler Means, chief mobility and strategy officer at Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, told Bloomberg.
But many experts weren’t surprised the program turned into a struggle bus.
Mamdani himself couldn’t even find the funds in his massive $124 billion budget to cover the cost of his pet project. Gabriella Bass“Zero-fare means worse service,” Jarrett Walker, a public transportation planning consultant, told Bloomberg.
“Taking out fares creates a much bigger hole that requires much bigger service cuts unless you find money somewhere else.”
Mamdani himself — who has frequently pointed to the failed Midwest city program as a success — couldn’t even find the funds in his massive $124 billion budget to cover the cost of his pet project.
Instead, the fresh-faced socialist urged Albany to continue the pilot for free buses, providing fare-free trips on a few routes around the city.
Still, the mayor has not dropped his pledge to make city buses free, a proposal that could cost roughly $800 million to replace lost fare revenue.
“Mayor Mamdani promised New Yorkers to make buses fast and free, and he intends to keep that promise,” said deputy press secretary Jeremy Edwards.
