The War on Cars12 Aug 2025

Should the Bus Be Free? With Yonah Freemark

Should the bus be free? That's the question everyone following the New York City mayoral race is asking, with Democratic primary winner Zohran Mamdani promising to focus on fast, free buses if he's elected to City Hall. Eliminating bus fares is a big idea, but is it a good one? Like a lot of things in politics, there's no simple answer. That's why we asked Yonah Freemark — a researcher in cities, land use, and transportation at the Urban Institute — to walk us through the pros and cons of making the bus free for everyone. Whatever you think about it, the good news is that everyone is talking about bus riders. That's a win in our book.

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of regular episodes, Patreon-only bonus content, Discord access, invitations to live events, merch discounts and free stickers!

***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025 by Thesis, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Pre-order now.***

Purchase tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th. And find us in other cities for our book tour including San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, and more.

The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation.

This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes.

Check out Mamala Food by Dani Finkel. (She designed our logo!)

SHOW NOTES

Learn more about Yonah Freemark and his work at the Urban Institute.

Watch Zohran Mamdani on The Breakfast Club.

Charlie Komanoff: Free buses would mean faster buses and more riders. (Streetsblog)

Andrew Cuomo has a less ambitious free bus plan. (Gothamist)

Boston has free buses on three routes. (Boston.gov)

New York's free bus pilot. (MTA.info)

This episode was recorded at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio.

www.thewaroncars.org

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(255)

Running the Chicago Transit Authority with Nora Leerhsen

Since 2025, Nora Leerhsen has served as the acting president of the Chicago Transit Authority, the second-largest transit system in the United States and an indelible icon of the city. She is the firs...

6 Okt 55min

PREVIEW: Ashik Jain, the Bicycle Mayor of One of India's Fastest Growing Cities

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live...

29 Sep 10min

Fighting for Federal Transportation Dollars with Mike McGinn

How will the United States spend $580 billion in federal funds for transportation over the next five years? That's the question facing Congress right now, as it's time once again for the transportatio...

22 Sep 46min

Fine, We're Doing a Helmet Episode

After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a social media video showing him listening to concerned citizens and deciding to wear a bicycle helmet, social media exploded. Some people praised the m...

8 Sep 1h 26min

PREVIEW: What Bicycles Can Do for Cities, via Velo-city 2026

25 Aug 11min

Let's Get Political [Re-release]

***We're taking a quick summer break this week so we're releasing this recent Patreon bonus episode into the general feed. We hope you enjoy it as a taste of what you can get if you sign up to support...

18 Aug 1h 6min

Human Transit with Jarrett Walker

Jarrett Walker's career has been dedicated to improving the quality of public transit in the United States and beyond. A specialist in bus network design, he has led transit planning projects around N...

4 Aug 56min