Ten days before Christmas, two Queens lawmakers proposed making all city buses free by 2026. What? That’d add an estimated $638 million a year to the MTA’s multi-billion dollar deficits — among other issues.
Ever since DC and other urban areas unveiled plans to offer free bus service to improve “equity” and make up for lost ridership, NYC’s lefties have wanted to follow suit. Yet there’s no reason to believe that charging a fare is hurting bus ridership. Heck, nearly one-third of city bus riders already aren’t even paying — costing the MTA $56 million in the final quarter of 2021.
Yes, the left thinks its every dream can be paid for with higher taxes on businesses and wealthy New Yorkers — and if companies and fat cats leave, by getting more blood out of those who remain. But the Empire State already imposes the worst state-and-local tax burden in the nation: The Democratic Socialists are bent on bleeding it out.
By teaming up with far-left Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani on the free-buses scheme, state Sen. Michael Gianaris, the chamber’s No. 2, has fully committed to the loony #TaxTheRich caucus. Sane senators should be plotting to oust him.