Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Hosts “Talk With The People” Live Stream
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good evening , everyone and welcome back to Talk with the People. Thank you so much for joining us once again. I'm so excited to be here with all of you. And we are here coming to you live about 28 or 29 hours since we launched the bus action plan. Now, what is the bus action plan? You may be wondering. Well, I'm here to explain exactly that to you. As you may know, we live in the greatest city in the world. We also live in the most populous city in the United States of America. A sad fact, however, is that we ride the slowest buses in the United States of America. Millions of New Yorkers ride the bus, and yet these buses can crawl as slow as five miles an hour. The longer you spend in New York City, the more likely it is that you have at some point walked faster than a bus. Now, for those of you who've been following — not just our administration, but even the time before then — you'll know that buses are near and dear to my heart. They're immensely important because they're how so many working people get around and get across the city. Now today, we're coming to you to tell you a little bit about this bus action plan because what we announced is that we are going to be saving New Yorkers up to six minutes each ride on more than 170 bus routes across New York City. Six minutes each ride; so that means if you ride the bus one way and you take that same bus back, you can be saving up to 12 minutes each way. Now, this is covering 70 percent of all routes in New York City, and it's just the start of making our buses fast and making our buses the world-class part of the public transit system that this city deserves. So, along with these more than 170 routes overall, we're also introducing Bus Rapid Transit to New York City. That means they're gonna be five separate routes that are gonna have the best kind of rapid transit that we have seen in many different parts of the world, now here in New York City. They're going to be covering Northern Boulevard, Queens, Tremont in the Bronx, Flatbush and Utica Avenue in Brooklyn and the route to JFK from Kensington in Brooklyn. So, Chat, please do comment if these are routes that you use today or these are routes that you've ever used before. Because, one of the things that makes us so excited about picking these routes for Bus Rapid Transit is that these are some of the most well-used routes in New York City, and the ones where we can also deliver significant improvements just through these kinds of investments. And so that's exactly what Bus Rapid Transit's about — that's what the bus action plan is about. And it's gonna be coupled with investments: more than $250 million in operating investments; more than $600 million in capital investments from our administration. And those are going to unlock things like ensuring that we have all-door boarding, which is something that we're gonna deliver by the end of next year, and the MTA has said that that's gonna be done by the of 2027. All-door boarding — for those of you who don't know — your ability to get on the bus without having to just go through the front. So, for all of those New Yorkers who have grown up like I have, having to yell “back door” to have it be opened up, now you'll actually be able to board the bus on any door. And that'll be delivered by the end of next year. In addition to that, we're going to have something called queue jumping, which we already have a little bit of in New York City, but it's going to be expanded. And queue jumping — for those who don't know — it's the ability for the bus to get a head start. Some of you may have seen, there are traffic lights, as we all know. And then there's also sometimes an additional light that will have a little gray line that's vertical — that is a queue jump that allows a bus to get a head start, so that it can actually get working people where they want to get going faster. Now, I thought it best to bring an actual expert here to not only talk with us about the bus action plan, but also race a little bit because we're talking about speeding up our buses. So, please join me in welcoming Diniece Mendes, who is one of the brains behind our bus action plan. Hello! How are you doing?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceChat, can we give some words of encouragement, please, for Diniece? Diniece should not be nervous, because Diniece is one of the brains behind what's going to be transformative for so many working-class people in trying to get where they're going. So, Diniece, can you explain a little bit of how we're going to make buses up to six minutes faster?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Because you're telling us that you're doing a lot of different things at the same time. So, I'm going to try and take a lesson from that and say, why don't I also try and do a number of different things at the same time? And we set up this Mario Kart game. Why don't you tell us a little bit more about the buses? Okay, so we're going to start it off — you, I know, have put dibs on this controller.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Okay, well, I hope it is not, because I'm looking forward to beating you, that's my hope, and I have this controller, which I have just seen for the first time in my life, shout out to— I just saw it. I just saw it. I put my hands on this before we started the stream just to get a little comfortable with it. But I have never seen a Switch controller. You know, I would prefer that controller a bit.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Okay, now, Department of Transportation Representative Diniece Mendez, can you tell us a little bit about what's a surprising fact about buses?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI have no idea when the switchover happened. But you know, there is an interesting book I've been meaning to read about the streetcar. I think Nicole Gelinas wrote a book about the rise and fall of the streetcar in New York City.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Apologies, as you can tell, [I] did not put in enough work trainings for this.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Here we go. Chat, please let me know if I'm making a mistake here, because I have, I got no clue.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Look, I will talk a lot of trash once we start, but standard bike? Where's the F1?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Don't double park my friends. Don't do it in the bus line.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Come on, come on! Alright, no please, I want you to focus on the bus action plan. I'm gonna stay focused right here.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So, okay, the six minute action plan, we're covering 70 percent of all routes across New York City. I'm currently in — okay I'm not in first. [Plays Mario Kart.] I did pass you, that means I get to ask you the question. Can you talk about the bus action plan in the context of Mario Kart terms?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source How are you going to say you're really rusty and you're in first? Oh, I'm in first. Apologies. I did not realize I was crushing it. [Plays Mario Kart.] Chat, let us know, what is the slowest bus ride you recall going on in your life? Because I can tell you right now, I used to live in Morningside Heights. I would take the 1 train to 231st and Broadway to go to Bronx Science. And I knew that if I could still see the bus two stops away, I could run fast enough to catch that bus. And that's not good for the City of New York. Oh, my goodness.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source We're thankful, we're thankful because now you're helping put together a bus action plan.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source And I think, you know, every time you lose a little faith, it makes you less likely to get on the bus.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Hold on, I gotta, we gotta review this. We gotta bring in a ref. We gotta bringing a ref here, this is absurd. I was lulled into a sense of an extra lap. I just beat villager—
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Yes, we do. But actually, should always keep praying for that. And now we're also going to do more than just pray. We are going to have additional enforcement. Let's talk about it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source And even if your name is “Bus,” because there may be one or two New Yorkers who feel like this might be in honor of them, it's in reference to a vehicle that is carrying multiple people. To where they need to go. Leave it for that vehicle, please.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source And I think just to go back to that, I mean, so many of us who grew up in the city have memories of standing, you know, behind an uncle or an auntie or whomever else, as we're all waiting to board the bus. And back in those days, you're maybe you're looking for exact change or you're looking for your metro card. Now, it's an OMNY swipe. But still, it creates a line.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source My friend, now is the time to come visit us. We would love to have you, no matter where you're from, because it's the World’s City. And it is easy. We are proud to have — I think, do we have the largest 24-7 public transit system in the world? So, wherever you may be from, our city's got a bigger public transit 24-7 system than anywhere else. And we're so proud to have it because it means that you can get around, whether you're taking the train, whether you’re taking the bus. And I know that New Yorkers, we sometimes have a reputation of being in a hurry, but if you ask, New Yorkers are oftentimes more generous than you think. So, we'd love to help you out and give you directions, but for that to happen, you gotta come visit us.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'm sorry for you. You know, when I lived in Morningside Heights, I was at one point working in Bay Ridge. And so, I would take an express bus from Times Square. I would the 1 to the 2 at 96th, then get off at Times Square, get on an express bus to get to Bay Ridge. You know, for me, they were a lifesaver often, but I'd love to know from you why they were joke, because we want to have every part of our public transit system to be top notch. So, do let us know.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Amen to a slow bus not being viable. That's why we want to make a slow bus, want to put it over there in that rear view mirror and we want to be looking at a fast bus. And I think that gets back to the point of — we don't want to try and convince New Yorkers that they should be getting on a bus that isn't meeting their needs. We want to give them a bus that convinces them themselves just in the results that it delivers.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAnd I think to your point earlier is that, you know, the bus system, it came after a few systems that we had here in New York City, a few different modes of transit. One of the beautiful things about the bus is that it's dynamic. It can change its direction, as it's not tied to as much physical infrastructure as, for example, our subway system is. And while our subway is in many ways built to go into the center of Manhattan, our bus system is one that also helps New Yorkers get across outer boroughs, not just always in from outer borrows to Manhattan. And we want to make sure that there is no hierarchy of how good your public transit is on the basis of where you live in our city. We want to deliver that world-class public transit. And one of the ways to do so is to ensure that our bus system is getting the kind of investment that it deserves.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source When we're talking about all-door boarding, it means that every door will be able to be used for boarding. So right now, SBS, you can get on at any door, but local bus service, you can't. You can only get on at the front door. You should get on the front door. And now, what this does is it means that no matter what kind of bus you're using, if there's multiple entrances and exits, then it means that you can actually get on, swipe your OMNY, no matter where you're getting on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAnd what kind of investments are we making on this action plan?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceOkay, shout-out to real-time arrival clocks. I still remember looking at my Bus Time app.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI’m like — and you know, for all of us, when we're saying don't use a ghost plate, we also got to make sure we never use a ghost bus. So that's, it's a two-way relationship here— —and we're trying to deliver our end.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You got to give it to him and I think yeah.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source We will give her your best. Thank you for shouting out the B44. We love a shout-out, whether it's the BX10, the B44 [or] the M60. What's your bus of choice? And why?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Chat, please let us know if you can walk faster than 2.3 miles an hour.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Yeah, we've heard about the importance of the train.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source These five bus rapid transit corridors. The first one will be completed by the end of 2030 at the latest, and that first one is going to be in Flatbush. And the engagement towards the community, the outreach, the riders — that's actually beginning this year because we want to make sure that these are projects that New Yorkers can see moving every single day because they hold the potential to transform the experience of riding on those buses.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Yeah, and I think, just to the question about [if] there [are] going to be impacts of traffic and things like that, there will be impacts to traffic during the course of the construction, but we're always looking to do the construction as quickly as possible while being safe about it to ensure that those disruptions are minimized.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source There is no question about that. The Bronx always needs some, shout out to the BX. And you can in the bus action plan, we have a focus on Tremont. It is one of the rapid transit corridors that we're going to be delivering. But beyond just buses, we just put out — maybe about a few weeks ago, although what is time — a plan called “Block by Block.” It was our housing plan that we've put forward where we're gonna be building 200,000 new affordable homes over the next 10 years and preserving 200,000 existing affordable homes that are in a potential state of disrepair. And in that plan, we put forward a spotlight specifically on the Bronx, and that spotlight is for a few reasons. One, we see the level of evictions in the Bronx in terms of how many Bronx sites it's affecting is at a disproportionate and unacceptable level. And two, we're seeing so many fires take place in the Bronx, and a lot of this also has to do with the level of disrepair in a lot the housing. And so, this fall we're going to have HPD work with [the] Mayor's Office and with tenants to sit down with other agencies, elected officials, and target the highest need areas of the Bronx. And that includes [the] South Bronx, that includes the Northwest Bronx, and what it also looks like is working with building owners to actually address concerns and improve safety before it becomes dangerous. So, thank you for that question.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think it's north of 100,000 on a daily basis. That’s incredible.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I'm going to say it's close between the BX10 for nostalgia, where I'd be running up the hill and I'd slapping the back of the bus asking the bus driver to please stop, and the M60. The M60 I have some love for, because it was the first Select Bus I ever rode, and when you get on a bus, and it can go fast— It's a great experience.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source It's a beautiful full-circle moment. I think it's also part of what makes it so important that so many people who are helping to make the bus action plan real have themselves been bus riders in our city and know the pain of being left behind.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Man, it is hard. It is hard to pick between all incredibly and kind of historic symbols of our city. I will say the bus holds a special place in my heart, I don't know if you guys have seen but there was recently a video, I think it was of Sarah Jessica Parker, getting on a bus, just appreciating she had all this space to herself, air conditioning was working, she was going to get to where she was going. That could be you! You could be SJP!
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Now pretend you have the opportunity, and that show, though, isn't about a personal vehicle, but it's about your bus. What would you do?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, you could pick the thoughtful answer or you could pick the absolutely insane answer that I just gave, and those are two possibilities. We have got another comment, [she’s] spitting facts.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I think that is a lovely way for us to close out Talk with the People. Thank you so much, Diniece.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Please. It has been a real pleasure. Thank you to you for helping to put together our bus action plan. And thank you to everyone for streaming with us. It was incredibly exciting for me to lose in front of an audience but to still have an opportunity to talk about the fact that we're saving New Yorkers up to six minutes each way. Thank you all so much. Have a lovely evening. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Hosts “Talk With The People” Live Stream.