Now scrap bus fares in London!

By New Worker correspondent

Zohran Mamdani's New York win takes the free public transport vision to the next level. That’s the take of  the Fare Free London campaign group  that says free transport – already available to children under 11 and Londoners over 60 via the 60+ Oyster or Freedom Pass - should be extended to all ages.
Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral election shines a spotlight on the potential for free public transport in the world's biggest cities. Making the city's buses "fast and free" was one of Mamdani's key election pledges.
His manifesto aims to "lower the cost of living for working-class New Yorkers". It promises to scrap bus fares, freeze rents, provide free child care up to the age of five, and set up a chain of municipally-controlled grocery shops.
The zero-fares scheme would have to be agreed with New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which is run by the New York state government – most likely by New York City back-filling the $6-800 million/year hole it would leave in the MTA budget.
Pearl Ahrens of Fare Free London said "This win has international resonance. If New York City can consider making buses free, so can London and other big world cities.
"There are smaller cities successfully running free public transport – more than 130 of them in Brazil, and European capitals including Luxemburg, Belgrade and Tallinn in Estonia.
“Glasgow, with more than 600,000 people, is committed to running a pilot scheme next year. New York City, which, like London, has more than 8 million people, can take this to the next level".
New York transport researcher Charles Komaroff said in an interview with Fare Free London that Mamdani's election campaign – based on "affordability" via free buses, free child care and low-cost groceries – had powerful symbolism in the city.
Komaroff authored a detailed appraisal of the scheme, published in April this year by the Nurture Nature Foundation, that has been a potent weapon for supporters of free buses. It concludes that, in money terms, the scheme will produce benefits for New Yorkers worth at least twice as much as the $600 million plus it will cost.
The report estimates that the scheme will increase bus use by 23 per cent, and shows that it will simplify bus travel, as boarding will be quicker, and speed up journey times by at least 7 per cent.  
Komaroff said that funds for the scheme would most likely have to be transferred from the city's budget to the MTA. "Ethically and politically, this money should be raised by taxes on millionaires and billionaires".
Fare-free travel was trialled on five New York bus routes during the year to September 2024. The pilot "dramatically increased" passenger numbers, by 30 per cent on weekdays and 38 per cent at weekends, providing "clear economic relief to low-income riders", Mamdani and New York state senator Michael Gianaris wrote afterwards. Assaults on drivers fell by 38 per cent.