The World Cup descends on New York City in June, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed an ambitious plan to fulfill one of his "key campaign promises," The New York Times reported.

Mamdani, who was inaugurated on Jan. 1, ran on a wide-ranging platform of affordability, including rent freezes, city-owned grocers, no-cost childcare, and "free buses."

The pledge to make New York City buses "fare free" was among the most prominent of Mamdani's platform planks, a thoroughly fleshed-out initiative rather than a slogan with no details. As the Times noted, in September 2023, then-Councilman Mamdani piloted five free bus routes through September 2024.

At the conclusion of the pilot program, Mamdani co-authored a piece in The Nation about the experiment, and his campaign site asserted that each dollar spent on free buses would generate more than $2 "worth of benefits for residents."

Much of the detailed explanations can be found within this appraisal by transit expert Charles Komanoff, but some of the highlights of those benefits include reducing bus stoppages to collect fares, cutting expenses associated with managing fares, and stimulating the economy by increasing access to shopping and finding jobs.   

In January 2025, New York City instituted congestion pricing, which cut vehicle transit times by up to 30% and slashed air pollution by 22% in its first 6 months. 

Mamdani's broader free bus proposal is expected to further reduce pollution while benefiting the City's low-income residents, 1 in 5 of whom struggle to afford subway and bus fares, something that can create a Catch-22 for a person seeking employment when many job opportunities could require expensive commuting. 

Programs encouraging the use of public transit instead of cars haven't just drastically cut emissions at scale — they've also stimulated economic activity by ensuring residents and visitors can easily navigate cities without fare barriers.

In Dunkirk, France, the city began rolling out a comprehensive free bus program incrementally in 2014, boosting ridership by 165%. 

It didn't take long for residents to warm to the program; in surveys conducted in 2020, 99% of respondents ranked free buses as the "most important public policy."

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While World Cup games will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the City anticipated a significant uptick in economic activity across its five boroughs — tourist spending that could be amplified by a trial of citywide free buses.

Mamdani's proposal to pilot free New York City buses during the World Cup would serve as an irreplicable promotion for the plan, and the Times indicated his administration was "pressing" the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul to greenlight the trial.

According to the Times, Mamdani appealed to state lawmakers during an "annual hearing where mayors from around the state plead for funding" on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

During the hearing, the Mayor stopped short of emphasizing his World Cup proposal, but said the event presented an unparalleled opportunity for New York City "to not just introduce ourselves to the world, but also to reintroduce ourselves to ourselves."

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