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Zohran Mamdani: “I continue to believe in the importance of making buses…”

Featuring: Zohran Mamdani, Democratic | Mayor of New York City

Up Close with Bill Ritter: One-on-one with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani | Full Interview

Published January 17, 2026 | Video Starts at 05:29

One thing Governor Hochul did not mention in her state of the state is your push for free buses. Are free buses going to happen in New York City? Can you afford to do? I continue to believe in the importance of making buses free, and that's something that we will deliver by the time that I'm done being the mayor. And I can tell you right now, in New York City, we have one free bus, the Q70 in Queens. (05:29–05:35)

CLAIM

Asserts a commitment to making buses free in New York City by the end of the mayoral term.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Zohran Mamdani

“More than a billion dollars in state funding to not just fix childcare for three year olds, but to start to deliver universal child care for…”
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“We're talking about an average cost of more than $26,000 a year if their child enrolls into 3K or what is going to be called $2K, they could…”
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“In New York City, we have one free bus, the Q70 in Queens.”
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“The vast majority of [bus riders] are making around $28,000 a year or less.”
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“The City sends about 54.5% of tax revenue to the state. It receives 40.5% from the state.”
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“We were able to secure this partnership with Governor Hochul on delivering universal childcare within the first two weeks of our…”
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“We can deliver universal childcare for three year olds and start to do it for two year olds.”
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“New Yorkers, when they're choosing to start a family, they're having to make the choice between doing that and staying in the city because…”
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“There are a lot of New Yorkers who would like to return to the workforce or join the workforce, but the cost of childcare for them to do so…”
Up Close with Bill Ritter: One-on-one with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani | Full Interview | Uploaded January 17, 2026 | 05:01-05:08
“We are inheriting an administration of fiscal mismanagement from the prior admin as well as former Governor Cuomo's decades long attack on…”
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“What those things have done is deliver this bill of health that shows about a $12 billion deficit over two fiscal years.”
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“We have to raise revenue. We have to tax the wealthiest New Yorkers, the most profitable corporations, and that we have to change the city's…”
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“The necessity of increased revenue is not just to fund an affordability agenda, but also to put the city on firmer financial footing.”
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“On the very first day that I became the mayor of New York City, we went to announce a number of executive orders.”
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“It's about fulfilling the promise to freezing the rent for rent stabilized tenants.”
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“The Rent Guidelines Board froze the rent three times [two mayors ago].”
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“The median household income of a rent stabilized tenant, $60,000 a year.”
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“The average profits of the landlords of those units, 12%.”
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“We've said we're going to build 200,000 truly affordable homes over the next 10 years.”
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“We do believe the state environmental review period should be shortened.”
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“We rescinded every single executive order the mayor had, the previous mayor had issued after being indicted.”
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“I made clear on my first day a direction to my police commissioner and my law department to review the legality of proposals, just like…”
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“ICE raids are cruel and inhumane and they do nothing to actually serve the interests of public safety.”
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“My job is to keep New Yorkers safe and that includes the more than 3 million New Yorkers of an immigrant background.”
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“We continue to maintain that our NYPD and our city government will follow the law of our sanctuary city policies.”
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“What these sanctuary city policies do is they say that ICE agents can't enter into a school or a city property without a judicial warrant…”
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“Whether we made New Yorkers lives more affordable, whether we made their lives better.”
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“These last two weeks have been incredibly encouraging and showing that our ability to do just that.”
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