New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani (D) ripped the Trump administration’s order to halt work on the city’s bus system, the latest in a series of orders targeting city infrastructure projects.
By Surina Venkat
“The Trump administration is once again seeking to meddle with our streets to make buses slower, worsen congestion and pollute our air,” Mamdani wrote on the social platform X.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a division within the U.S. Department of Transportation, sent a letter to the city’s transportation agency Friday with a “demand” that it “cease and desist all activities” to implement its 34th Street busway project.
Sean McMaster, the FHWA’s administrator, cited concern with a “lack of coordination” between city and state agencies behind the request to halt the project. He criticized the city for moving forward with the project despite the FHWA’s concerns.
“This is unacceptable and puts at risk decisions regarding pending and future Federal-aid projects,” he wrote in the letter.
Mamdani, who swept the city’s June Democratic primary, has run a campaign centered on affordability, with free buses being one of the centerpiece promises of his mayoral run.
“Making buses free doesn’t just provide economic relief but also public safety,”Mamdani said during a Thursday New York City mayoral debate against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (I) and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
He added that New Yorkers deserved more “than the slowest buses in the country,” referencing one city bus line’s average speed of 4.5 miles per hour.
The federal government’s demand to halt the project is the latest in a series of attacks by the Trump administration against city funding and projects.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought wrote on X in early October that the administration had paused $18 billion in federal funds from New York City due to “unconstitutional DEI principles.”
The administration has also cut funding to the city’s education system for not adhering to anti-transgender bathroom and locker room policies, prompting a lawsuit from New York City’s public schools. Previously, the administration cut — then restored — $187 million in Homeland Security and counterterrorism funding for the city and New York state.
Trump has threatened to withhold money from New York City if Mamdani wins the mayoral seat in November.
“He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great city,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.