Transcript: Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Unveil Historic Plan to Build the Fastest, Best Bus System in New York City History
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everyone. It is an honor to be here with so many friends, partners, advocates and community members, transit riders and public servants. And also, an incredible remix of Madonna's Four Minutes. Thanks to your tireless efforts, we are here in downtown Brooklyn to say something millions of New Yorkers have been waiting to hear: the next stop for New York City is better buses. And I want to acknowledge that we are here joined by a number of leaders at every level of government. We have our governor, Kathy Hochul, who is joining us today; our MTA chair, Janno Lieber; [and] our City Council transportation chair, Shaun Abreu. As you've heard from our deputy mayor for operations, Julia Kerson; our DOT commissioner, Mike Flynn; [and] our NYPD transportation chief, [Olufunmilola] Obe. And we have from Riders Alliance Betsy Plum and Andrèa Albayeros Abdalah. And I also want to acknowledge our borough president of Manhattan, Brad Hoylman-Sigal; Council Members Alexa Avilés and Amanda Farías; and our Brooklyn deputy borough president, Kim Council. Let's give them a round of applause. It is such a pleasure to be here alongside all of them as we come together to make an announcement that speaks to a singular truth that every person who calls our city home knows: in New York City, time is money. And we are going to give New Yorkers some of that time back. Six minutes, to be precise. So, to illustrate what six minutes saved really means, I have decided to keep the rest of my speech to six minutes exactly. We're going to use this stopwatch to show that the clock starts now. Now, for decade after decade, the working people of our city who rely on the bus have had their precious time treated with disdain. New York's bus system carries more riders than America's next four largest bus systems combined. And those riders commute on the slowest buses in the nation, many of which crawl at an average of five miles per hour. Too many New Yorkers walk faster to the bus stop than the bus they finally get on actually travels. Too many lives are planned around delays in commutes. Too many communities have demanded better: a devoted 34th Street busway, a redesign of Fordham Road in the Bronx [and] a rapid bus corridor down Flatbush Avenue. And yet despite all of the work of so many that are here and even beyond this event, they have found that their voices have been ignored by those who can deliver change. That ends today. Our streets are public spaces. How we design them reflects who we believe they are for. Today, we make a decision that puts working New Yorkers first. Now, I am proud to stand alongside Governor Kathy Hochul this morning as we launch our bus action plan, Next Stop. This historic investment will make our buses faster and more reliable for millions of New Yorkers across the five boroughs. The Department of Transportation will work in partnership with the MTA to transform 50 priority bus routes citywide, some of which are currently the slowest in the city, many of which serve neighborhoods with few other transit options, and all of which deserve better. Now, here in Brooklyn, we will deliver the first of five rapid bus corridors by 2030 on Flatbush Avenue. Now, Flatbush Avenue is a corridor used by more than 130,000 riders every day but slowed by some of the city's worst gridlock. The first phase of Flatbush is already underway and includes center-running bus lanes and new bus boarding islands. Future phases of the project include fully separated bus lanes, stations with level boarding, and fast, frequent service guaranteed. Now, Flatbush is only the beginning. Northern Boulevard in Queens, 116th Street in Manhattan, White Plains Road in the Bronx, Utica and Church Avenues in Brooklyn, Victory Boulevard on Staten Island — these streets and dozens of other routes across the five boroughs will receive dedicated rapid service and infrastructure improvements that finally put riders first. Part of that means changing how buses stop and start with transit signal priority, queue jumps and yes, all-door boarding. These improvements may sound technical, but they deliver change that is anything but. Less waiting, faster trips and buses that arrive when they're supposed to. We are also making sure that bus lanes stay clear. By 2028, all 50 corridors will have Automated Camera Enforcement because these lanes should do exactly what their name promises — they should be for buses. Now, we are not just improving our bus lanes; we are improving our buses too. The MTA will replace 40 percent of our aging fleet with 2,500 brand new vehicles. Taken together, these investments will increase speeds along our 50 priority corridors by 20 percent on average. That means riders will save up to six minutes every trip [and] up to 12 minutes every commute. I'm just going to check — we have one minute and 53 seconds left for me to hit this goal. Now, if you take the bus to work, that adds up fast. Within six months, you will have spent 24 fewer hours on the bus. By the time a year rolls around, you'll have saved more than two days of commuting time. That means breakfast with your family. It means having the time to argue balls and strikes at your kid's little league game. It means getting home for bedtime. It means agreeing with your friends that Egypt [was] robbed yesterday. Above all, it means time returned to New Yorkers who don't have nearly enough of it. And as we do so, we are also ensuring that the time spent on our bus system is a little more pleasant. No longer will the majority of bus stops in New York City be a rusty pole and slab of concrete. That is not good enough. By the end of this year, we will install 100 new bus shelters citywide and 300 more by 2031. We will add benches and leaning bars at 875 bus stops each year, with seating guaranteed at every single bus stop in the city by 2035. And we will plant more trees around stops to provide shade and protection from the elements. At every stop of this work, the working people who ride our buses every day will shape the decisions that we make. Input from street outreach and community workshops will be incorporated during the design and development [phases]. And even after construction is completed, we will continue to solicit feedback to make sure that each project is delivering exactly what we promised. Years from today, when we take measure of whether this plan succeeded, we'll calculate it by how many New Yorkers get home earlier, by how many buses arrived when they were supposed to, by how many working people got some relief from the heat and the rain, and by how I can't even speak as fast as the savings that we're going to receive. Because what we're going to see is that New Yorkers will spend six fewer minutes on the bus and six more minutes living their lives, because I want a city where Christopher Leon Johnson has enough time to come and yell at a press conference. I don't want him to be stuck on the bus on the way to the press conference. That's the city I want. A city where you can heckle your public officials because the bus is running on time. And our streets should work like the working New Yorkers who use them, quickly and efficiently. With this bus action plan, we are taking a huge step towards a future where our buses run as fast as everything else in this city we love. One where every New Yorker’s commute is defined by ease and dignity. Thank you. This is for Christopher. This is every New Yorker who takes the bus. And this is for everyone who knows that a world-class city deserves world-class buses. Thank you so much.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think the union is here about their contract, not about the bus action plan.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think you know whenever I've had conversations with union members and union leadership, there is a shared commitment to a desire to make our bus system — our public transit system — the envy of the world, and we know that we consider our city to be a world-class city; it's time to do everything we need to deliver that world-class public transit, and when we're talking about this plan, you know, I just want to distill what this will actually mean. We're talking about speeding up buses 20 percent on 50 priority corridors. We're taking about New Yorkers saving up to six minutes per trip. And what we're also talking about is doing all of these day-to-day improvements alongside the kind of capital investments that really have an impact on what bus riders' experiences are, whether it's how they wait for the bus [or] whether they know the bus is actually coming. And I'll tell you, as a bus rider myself, there have been times where I look at my Bus Time app. I'm told the M60 is coming — nine minutes — it's about two minutes away; that bus disappears. And we need to make the actual investments necessary to ensure that New Yorkers can trust what they're seeing and that they can get on that bus and that the buses are so good that they might not wanna get off that bus. I'm gonna pass it over to our MTA chair as well as our DOT commissioner for anything additional.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I would even go so far as to say the check-ins are happening on a near daily basis at this point between a lot of the people that you see here on this stage and even just in terms of my own time, this is a priority for me in terms of our administration. We are speaking about a form of transit that millions of New Yorkers rely upon. A form of transit again that serves more riders than some of the largest cities in this country combined, and yet, a form of transit that at times is crawling at a speed that New Yorkers are walking. And that is an indictment of the policy decisions that have been taken to this point. We are proud now to put ourselves forward as partners to the MTA [and] to the state in delivering. And again, delivering means the work on the expense side, the work on the Capital’s side and also the work on the streetscape. And when we’re talking about that — that, you know, I’m so proud of leadership we’ve seen from our DOT commissioner in looking to make decisions that will speed up our buses and that will ensure that safety is a priority for each and every person no matter how they are getting around this city.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Not at all. Not at all. I've been very clear with New Yorkers that my commitment is to make buses fast and free. Today, we stand together on how we deliver the fast. And I want to be very clear that that speed is something in terms of what New Yorkers can depend on, what they can see on the bus and then also the investments we're making around the whole bus system. That's what's so exciting about this is it's not just about the bus; it's also about the bus stop. It's about the streetscape. It's about every single thing that delays New Yorkers when they're trying to get around. We're excited to be in partnership with the MTA and with the state on doing that. And we'll continue not only to believe, but [also] to work towards making our bus system free as well.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source With my extra six minutes, I would probably just watch the replays of Egypt getting robbed again and again yesterday. You know, just gotta throw up the VAR. I think the other thing about [these] six minutes is what it means for New Yorkers. New Yorkers go to great lengths to catch the bus. I'll tell you, you now, I used to live in Astoria. My parents in Morningside Heights, I would take the M60 to visit them. And there would be times that I knew if I missed the bus at 116th and Broadway, I would have to get on a Citi Bike to cut across to catch that bus at 125th and Second Avenue and just pedaling as fast as I could to get there. Part of that is because I didn't know when the next bus was coming. And now we know that buses are going to be more frequent [and] they're gonna be more reliable. And to your first question, Melissa. You know, what we want is for the greatest number of New Yorkers to be able to get where they're going in a way that is both safe, reliable and also frequent. And what we've seen time and time again is on our streets we are speaking about millions of New Yorkers who are relying on the bus and they're being trapped in traffic. And what are excited to see is that for more New Yorkers now, they can get where they're doing and they can do so at a time that actually allows them to breathe at the end of the day.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think by following through. We've heard announcements before. What makes today different is not only the shared commitment to following through on those announcements, [but] also the fiscal commitment behind these announcements. When we're talking about from the city level, we're looking at a commitment of $254 million in expense funding over the next five fiscal years. We're talking more than $600 million in capital funding over that same period of time. And what we're also talking about is an understanding that bus riders are so often the ones who are thought of the least when it comes to our policy conversations. And these are the riders who are typically being hit by the affordability criticism the hardest. They're being asked to sit in traffic the longest. And now with these fiscal commitments, with these policy commitments, but also with these political commitments, we are going to actually deliver on that. I'm going to pass it over to our MTA chair [or] DOT commissioner for anything additional. Lieber: I just want to say, there's a revolutionary idea that sometimes gets forgotten in public life: accountability. Accountability. We're putting out a report today that has specific goals and specific commitments. And every month, Ethan, you're there at the MTA board meeting and you ask me questions about whether we're meeting our goals. And the MTA has the biggest open data platform in the state. Accountability is part of the culture of the MTA, and I dare say it's part of this administration's approach to this issue and many others. And we're thrilled. I mean, the DOT commissioner and I were just talking in the back about how we are going to address the choke points on a daily basis that develop. That level of accountability and responsiveness is not always observed in government, but I'm telling you, this is an MTA and a city that are going to make good on that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I mean it — you know? If you're going to call the foul on the first disallowed goal.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So first I'm gonna answer your question. Then I'm going to go into just a broad overview of what we're looking at right now. Yes, I do continue to consider the conversion of office space into residential space as part of our answer to the housing crisis. I also consider that we have to do so safely and in a way that is fully accountable. And so as soon as we answer the emergency questions around safety in this moment, we are going to be conducting a full investigation as to how we got to this point. Because this is not a necessary consequence of an office to residential conversion. This, however, is clearly a breakdown in that process. And just to give an overview for everyone about the state of affairs when it comes to this building. So as of 8:30 a.m. this morning, temporary shoring and beams have been completely installed on floors 18 through 23. And additional shoring beams will be added throughout the day. As of 10:15 a.m., floors 17 and 24 are also in progress. They're going to be working through the day to get all the way up to the roof and all the way down to floor nine. It is a 37-floor building. Now, as of this morning, again, we have also reduced the number of evacuated buildings. That number is now four under a full vacate and one under a partial vacate of the ground floor restaurant. The contractor has had crews working around the clock and DOB continues to closely monitor the situation. DOB is currently on site doing so. Again, one of the questions that we were asked yesterday was about the question of the movement of the structure. I wanna confirm for all New Yorkers that there has been no additional movement of the structures since yesterday morning. This continues to be monitored as that emergency work is underway. Now, just to restate one more time, as soon as this emergency work is concluded, DOB is going to be conducting a rigorous assessment and ensuring that the plans and the site are fully compliant with all codes before any non-emergency work moves forward. And just want to bring, we have our Deputy Mayor of Housing and Planning who is here with us, if there's anything you want to add to that. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You know, I think we've seen that Legionnaires' is an issue that continues to affect our city, and what we wanted to show is that we are going to go beyond what the typical response has been, because this is a situation that is urgent. We are talking about 28 confirmed cases. We are thankful that thus far, there have been no deaths associated with this cluster. And we are, going to — to your first question — that's something that we're going to follow up on. What I will say, however, is that I am appreciative of the work of our Health Dpartment, in that they identified this cluster quite early. At that point, there were about two confirmed cases. And what they have done is to work with both those who have contracted this illness, as well as building owners across the neighborhood, to ensure that we are able to inspect these cooling towers as quickly as possible. We've also — we're going to be taking the step of releasing the addresses of wherever has been impacted because we know that that transparency is also a critical part of how New Yorkers can continue to go about their day. I want to both use this as an opportunity to say two additional things to New Yorkers. The first is that if you live, work, or have visited the area since late June and are experiencing flu-like symptoms — whether that means a cough, a fever or difficulty breathing — I would encourage you to contact a health provider immediately. And second that, residents in the area are completely safe to continue to bathe, to continue to drink tap water, to continue shower and cook, and using their air conditioner at home. I live in this neighborhood. This is something that I know is of concern to many in the neighborhood, and this is an absolute priority for the administration as we move forward. Thank you so much. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Unveil Historic Plan to Build the Fastest, Best Bus System in New York City History.