Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled an $800 million plan Wednesday they mentioned will shorten metropolis bus rides by including particular lanes — and extra Large Brother-style visitors cameras to squeeze drivers.
The Democrats unveiled the plan at a information convention in Flatbush, claiming new “fast bus routes” would save riders six minutes per journey whereas increasing the Automated Digicam Enforcement program with 200 new cameras added to 50 extra routes by subsequent 12 months.
“In New York Metropolis, time is cash. And we’re going to give New Yorkers a few of that point again,” Mamdani mentioned. “Six minutes exactly.”
Mamdani began a stopwatch when he made his announcement, promising to maintain his speech to 6 minutes — however the speech went longer, breaking the schedule like an M42 bus.
However Allan Rosen, vice chair of rider group Passengers United, mentioned the six-minute promise additionally falls aside the second you take a look at how far most individuals truly journey the bus.
“They’re saying that bus lanes will prevent as much as six minutes,” mentioned, who spent three a long time on the MTA, together with a stint operating bus planning.
“Meaning in case you journey all the bus route, say 8 miles, you save six minutes,” he added. “The common native bus journey is 2.3 miles. So the common passenger would save solely an insignificant two or three minutes from their 45 or 60 minute journey.”
The plan between town Division of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will set up visitors lights with inexperienced flip arrows for buses and make the most of tape-and-go boarding to hurry up rides — although a former MTA bus planner mentioned all the trouble will solely shorten rides by a few minutes.
Metropolis Corridor mentioned it can spend $254 million and $628 million in capital funds over 5 years for the plan, which additionally requires bringing bus cease spacing “consistent with worldwide and nationwide requirements” — a part of the MTA’s ongoing bus community redesign.
However meaning some bus stops might be eradicated as US and worldwide steering places city native bus stops about each quarter-mile and New York Metropolis now areas them nearer to each 800 ft, in accordance with the MTA.
Rosen mentioned dropping your cease can wipe out any time gained from sooner buses.
“In the event you miss a bus as a result of your bus cease was eliminated, you’ll be able to simply add one other 10 minutes to your journey. So your journey can take 20 minutes longer below the MTA’s planning,” Rosen mentioned.
The larger drawback, Rosen mentioned, is that buses are unreliable, not sluggish.
Solely about 20 supervisors are assigned to maintain 6,000 metropolis buses operating on schedule, he mentioned, and the plan does nothing to repair that. The MTA didn’t reply to a Publish inquiry in regards to the variety of bus schedule supervisors at the moment employed on the MTA.
Rosen zeroed in on the plan’s name so as to add lots of extra ticketing cameras.
“The actual purpose bus lanes are applied is to boost fines from violators and to discourage cars by clogging up visitors by removing of lanes. It’s to not assist bus passengers,” Rosen mentioned.
However Mamdani’s plan does assist an anti-car advocacy group that’s quietly funded by the corporate benefiting from extra cameras on the road.
Transportation Options’ November 2025 want listing for the incoming Mamdani administration known as for precisely what the mayor delivered Tuesday — extra digital camera enforcement and marquee fast bus routes.
The mayor’s plan even named Transportation Options as a stakeholder of his plan and he appointed a former govt from the group to supervise buses for his administration.
Transportation Options listed Verra Mobility, the corporate that runs each automated enforcement digital camera within the metropolis, as a $100,000-plus donor yearly from 2020 by way of 2023, the final 12 months the group made its donor listing public.
NYC DOT signed a brand new five-year, $998 million contract with Verra in February — a rise of about 34% from its final contract.
Verra mentioned in a press launch that rising bus lane digital camera enforcement was an enormous a part of why the contract received greater.
The town and MTA issued $152.9 million in bus lane-related digital camera fines and picked up $126 million from drivers in fiscal 12 months 2025 with income from bus mounted cameras rising 551% 12 months over 12 months, in accordance with town Division of Finance’s annual Native Regulation 6 report.
Income jumped after the state expanded the MTA’s bus-mounted digital camera program to additionally ticket drivers who block bus stops or double park alongside bus routes.
