New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani previewed his effort to implement free buses in the Big Apple in a video collaboration with YouTuber Ms. Rachel.
In the video posted Sunday, Ms. Rachel, whose legal name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, is seen singing, “the mayor on the bus says hello friends,” when Mamdani jumps into frame and joins in. When Ms. Rachel goes to the second verse of “the money on the bus goes clink, clink, clink,” Mamdani interrupts to remind her that the buses will be free.
“That’s so wonderful! But this is my song and the kids like to do it,” Ms. Rachel said before continuing with the third verse. “The babies on the bus go wah wah wah.”
“Aren’t the babies happy about the child care?” Mamdani interrupted.
“They’re so happy. Actually, the parents are really happy,” Ms. Rachel said.
Mamdani was referencing his plan to expand the city’s child care program to include 2-year-olds for free and to bolster it for children aged 3 and above. At the state level, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced a commitment to expand universal pre-K for all 4-year-olds in the state by the 2028-2029 school year.
Hochul committed the state to fully funding the first two years of New York City’s new “2-care” program. Hochul said the additional investment is $1.7 billion, bringing the fiscal 2027 child care and pre-K investment statewide to $4.5 billion.
The Sunday video is the first Ms. Rachel has posted in two months, as her last YouTube video was a collaboration with Sesame Street. Ms. Rachel was appointed to Mamdani’s inaugural committee before he was sworn in at the beginning of the year. She is a New York City resident with many of her videos filmed at various sites across the city.
MAMDANI SAYS FREE BUSES MEANS FEWER ASSAULTS OVER ‘FARE COLLECTION’
Mamdani organized a yearlong pilot of free bus routes before he was inaugurated. Five routes reached all the boroughs, which didn’t charge fares from September 2023 to September 2024. It remains to be seen when Mamdani’s campaign promise of free buses will be implemented permanently.
The $2.90 fare is unaffordable for 1 in 5 New Yorkers, according to a report Mamdani wrote in September. Mamdani reported that the average bus rider makes less than $30,000 a year, and the pilot resulted in a 30% increase in bus riders, with the uptick among those earning less than $28,000.
