Hochul Pumps The Brakes On Mamdani’s $700 Million Free Bus Plan

The far-left experiment in New York City is already sputtering — and the engine hasn’t even started.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is pumping the brakes on socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s $700 million proposal to make city buses free, throwing cold water on one of the Democratic socialist’s most expensive campaign promises, according to The New York Post.

Speaking at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico over the weekend, Hochul made it clear that her administration has already poured billions into propping up the city’s ailing Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) — and she’s not eager to dig deeper into state coffers.

“I continue to be excited at the work of making the slowest buses in America fast and free,” Mamdani said Monday during an unrelated press conference. “And I appreciate the governor’s continued partnership in delivering on that agenda of affordability.”

But Hochul’s remarks in San Juan signal an early fracture between the self-styled “moderate” governor and the radical socialist she backed just two months ago. Hochul eagerly embraced Mamdani’s enthusiasm on the campaign trail — but she’s far less willing to fund his utopian wish list now that he’s in power.

The governor has already shot down several of Mamdani’s hallmark proposals, including his push to hike taxes on successful New Yorkers to bankroll $10 billion in new entitlement programs, from universal child care to “fareless” transit.

Without Albany’s help, Mamdani’s far-reaching plans could face an immediate dead end. Yet Democratic leaders in the state Legislature — Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — appear more open to indulging the socialist mayor’s demands, deepening the rift between the state’s moderate leadership and its radical activist wing.

That growing divide has left Hochul in an awkward political position — publicly squeezed by the same progressive mob she once courted. Activists have twice disrupted her recent appearances with chants of “Tax the rich,” prompting a sharp response.

“The more you push me, the more I’m not going to do what you want,” Hochul fired back at the SOMOS crowd.

Still, Hochul offered a measured olive branch to Mamdani, saying she’s open to working toward expanding free child care — though she stressed the staggering price tag.

“We’ll be on a path to get there, because I’m committed to this as ‘mom governor’ — I get it,” Hochul said. “But also to do it statewide, right now, it’s about $15 billion — the entire amount of my reserves.”

Her comments marked a dose of fiscal reality for Mamdani, who has built his brand as a socialist crusader for “everyday New Yorkers,” promising sweeping new welfare programs without explaining who pays for them.

Meanwhile, Hochul continues her own political balancing act ahead of a likely 2026 re-election bid. Following the SOMOS retreat, she flew to the Dominican Republic to attend a breakfast celebrating cross-cultural exchange — an event seen as a strategic move to court one of New York’s largest and most influential immigrant voting blocs.

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers trace their roots to the Dominican Republic, making the trip a calculated effort by Hochul to rebuild her moderate base while keeping the far-left at arm’s length.

Whether Hochul and Mamdani can maintain their uneasy alliance could decide not just the fate of “free buses” and taxpayer-funded child care — but the future of New York’s Democratic Party itself.