Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Buses

Let’s Hear More About Transit Policy That NYC’s Next Mayor Can Control

Four of the Democratic mayoral candidates appeared on MSNBC with Chris Hayes Sunday morning, and for a short while the subject turned to transit. About two minutes into this segment, Hayes prompted former City Council member Sal Albanese to discuss his proposal to band together with other mayors to lobby Washington for more transit funding. John Liu, Bill Thompson, and Bill de Blasio then took turns discussing their various ideas for getting the feds and/or Albany to direct more funding to the city's transit system.

The funding issue, however, is mainly Governor Cuomo's problem to solve, not the mayor's. The one major transit issue that the next mayor can actually control -- namely, prioritizing space for transit on NYC's streets -- didn't come up on the show. Time was limited, of course, but it would have been great to see someone pivot to the issue of improving surface transit.

Select Bus Service has shown that something can be done to speed up New York's notoriously pokey buses. The next mayor could do much more, by building better bus lanes and by bringing improvements to routes throughout the bus network on a faster timetable. The Nostrand Avenue SBS project, for instance, has been in the public planning phase for more than three years, and the first SBS improvements for Queens are still in development.

New Yorkers make more than 2 million bus trips every weekday. That's a lot of voters who know what it's like to ride a bus that gets bogged down in traffic, or to wait forever for a bus that's been thrown off the posted schedule. So let's hear the candidates talk about how they'll make life better by delivering faster, more reliable bus service.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Beach Reading: Zohran Mamdani’s Answers to Streetsblog’s Mayoral Candidate Survey

Spend the holiday weekend with Zohran Mamdani's answers to Streetsblog's mayoral candidate questionnaire.

July 4, 2025

Friday Video: Why NYC Needs ‘Low-Traffic Neighborhoods’

London's Church Street, like so many of our business corridors, was choking on cars — until the advent of the low-traffic neighborhood.

July 4, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: E-Bikes in Parks … Permanently Edition

The Parks Department will permanently allow e-bikes in city parks following a two-year pilot. Plus more news.

July 4, 2025

Anti-Miracle On 34th Street: Adams Administration Pauses Work On 34th Street Busway

The highly-anticipated 34th Street busway may not happen under Mayor Adams after all, sources said.

July 3, 2025

Manhattan DA Says Alleged Central Park Hit-and-Run Cyclist Didn’t Flee, Drops Charges

Prosecutors said the 30-year-old cyclist "remained on the scene for about 45 minutes after the crash and waited for paramedics to arrive to treat the injured person."

Sean Duffy’s ‘Great America Road Trip’ Wants You to Drive to Central Park

Sean Duffy's "Great American Road Trip" encourages Americans to drive to sites in the most transit-rich and car-choked parts of the country.

July 3, 2025
See all posts