Mamdani Taps TA Honcho As ‘Fast And Free’ Bus Czar

The “Bus Mayor” finally has his bus czar.

The Mamdani administration has tapped a former top executive at Transportation Alternatives to spearhead the mayor’s effort to speed up the slowest buses in the nation and, eventually, make them free of fares.

Elizabeth Adams, who until recently was the deputy director of Public Affairs at the safe streets group, will be the first “Senior Adviser for Fast and Free Buses,” reporting to First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan.

The new adviser will be responsible for leading the charge on the “fast and free” bus policy, which was a key promise of Mayor Mamdani’s campaign. In her role, Adams will work across agencies to drum up key support. She said she will draw on her experience leading campaigns for Transportation Alternatives and working across state and city government.

“I’m coming in with that campaign expertise and really strong relationships,” Adams told Streetsblog in an interview. “We have an opportunity led by a mayor who has shown really unprecedented commitment to affordable, accessible public transit. I’m here because I’m committed to help make that a reality.”

Mamdani’s promise for fast and free buses resonated with voters because of its simplicity and emphasis on affordability. Adams said she is excited to lead the charge on this particular policy promise because of its clear ties to equity.

“Transportation is the great equalizer in our city,” she said. “We should be opening up the city to New Yorkers, not closing it off. When we remove cost barriers of transportation, and of busses specifically, we are addressing inequity in such a clear and specific way.”

The slogan may be easy to understand, but it is one of the most-ambitious challenges for the young mayor, requiring a special workflow.

The administration has already started working on the “fast” part of the equation. In the Bronx, the DOT freed up the long-stalled Fordham road busway project by promising to install offset bus lanes. The administration is promising a 20-percent increase in speeds on the glacial corridor. And although the mayor is a Met fan, he also threw a bone to the Yankees: The Bx6 in the Bronx are getting a crosstown speed boost with a reconstruction of 161st Street.

And in Manhattan, the DOT will extend the existing Madison Avenue bus lane from 42nd Street to 23rd Street, another stalled project of the former Adams-administration.

The “free” part has proven more difficult, thanks in part to its $1-billion pricetag. The mayor wants the funding to come from raising taxes on the super-wealthy, but Gov. Hochul says that’s a non-starter. (She has, however, agreed on a “pied-à-terre tax” targeting second homes in New York City worth $5 million or more.

The two pieces of the mayor’s promise go hand and hand. A report from economist Charles Komanoff determined buses would move faster and complete their routes more quickly without fares, and the lack of fares would also attract almost 170 million more riders to the bus system.