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Eliminating fares could significantly reduce assaults on bus operators

Assembly member proposed scraping the farebox citywide

BY DUNCAN FREEMAN
Posted 1/31/25

Transport union leaders are getting behind a new plan to prevent assaults on bus operators: eliminating fares on all buses citywide. The proposal from Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist candidate for mayor who has made scrapping the fares a cornerstone of his campaign to succeed Eric Adams. 

During his tenure, Mamdani, along with State Senator Michael Gianaris, championed a free bus pilot program on one bus route in each borough that ran from September 2023 to September 2024. Not only did ridership on the free lines increase by 11 percent in that period but bus operators also experienced 39.8 percent fewer verbal and physical assaults from customers, more than double the systemwide 19.8-percent decrease during that period, according to the MTA.

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