New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is rolling out plans to accelerate bus commutes by 20% along 45 major corridors, including Fordham Road and Madison Avenue—a nod to his campaign promise of fast and free transit. While the City Council eyes free subway and bus rides for a million riders, state officials fret over the price tag. For now, at least, we’ll take speedier service over grander gratuities.
New York City in brief
Top five stories in the five boroughs today
After 21 hours of failed talks in Pakistan—the closest Washington and Tehran have been since 1979—the US Central Command will, from Monday, block ships entering or leaving Iranian ports, exempting only those merely passing the Strait of Hormuz. With 20% of global oil once coursing through this chokepoint, energy markets now brace for choppier waters, while both sides issue customary vows of resolve and nobody explains who, exactly, will check the receipts.
Mayor Mamdani pledged New York City will finally banish sidewalk trash bags by containerizing all residential waste by 2031—a leap far beyond his predecessor Eric Adams’ lone Harlem test run. Each borough gets a fully containerized district next year, though Mamdani was vague on how to foot the bill. As Parisians and Tokyoites might note, we’re only a few decades late to this cleaner curb party.
Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Navy will launch a blockade on ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, with CENTCOM pledging to “enforce impartially against vessels of all nations.” We note that this busy Persian Gulf chokepoint handles a fifth of global oil flows—making Washington’s impartiality likely to undergo a stress test more vigorous than any sea trial.
At a 100-day rally in Queens, Mayor Zohran Mamdani pledged to govern New York City with “pothole politics”—fixing daily nuisances like slow buses and street litter, alongside launching the first city-run grocery store in East Harlem. Bernie Sanders applauded from the wings, and, perhaps inspired by mayors past, Mamdani assured us that even sidewalk cracks may someday yield to ideology—if not to Taco Bell orders.