Happy Earth Day to those who used to celebrate before they moved on to Queers for Palestine, etc.! And what better way to celebrate Earth Day than to get on a clean soot-spewing diesel-powered bus? “It’s where America’s poor and very poor can meet,” a friend pointed out.
Ayatollah Mamdani wants to bring free bus service to the Manhattan Caliphate, though it seems as if the dream is deferred (“Zohran Mamdani backs down on cornerstone campaign promise of free NYC buses” (NY Post)). A Republican in the NYC woodpile objects because “free busses will inevitably turn into rolling homeless shelters and drug dens, and become miserable and dangerous for the people who actually need to utilize them”:
(Wokipedia on the horrors of this Deplorable harpy: “Paladino has openly expressed Islamophobic and homophobic views. She has also opposed pro-Palestinian protests during the Gaza War, squatter houses, Drag Queen Story Hour, congestion pricing, and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”)
As someone who loves Zohran and hates sitting in traffic jams, I’m a believer that public transit should be free and, actually, negatively priced during peak traffic congestion. On the other hand, maybe Vickie Paladino is right that “free” in a filthy city such as New York doesn’t attract the best people.
How about if people pay the usual fare when boarding, but via a smartphone app become eligible for a monthly rebate that is paid via Zelle. The unhoused New Yorkers and drug-dealing New Yorkers whom Paladino doesn’t want to encounter aren’t likely to have bank accounts and, therefore, aren’t likely to be able to get rebates via Zelle.
The rebate would vary by the ride and time of day and be linked to congestion on the roads. Someone who rode the bus during rush hour (that’s 8 am to 8 pm in NYC?) would get a rebate larger than whatever the fare is cranked up to. Someone who rode the bus at midnight wouldn’t get a rebate, which aligns pretty well with transit system costs because it is expensive per rider to maintain a schedule at night when ridership is low.
When I lived in NYC in the 1980s, the bus was the least aesthetically-challenged option (although likely the most polluting), the eau-de-l’urine was faint unless someone just peed in the seat. Now, you couldn’t pay me to live in that place.
As for cabs, another fine transportation option, my wife and I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s recently — you know, the classic movie about girl and boy grifters leaving their sugar daddy and mommy for each other. I couldn’t believe Audrey kept using those filthy yellow cabs, with her high fashion dresses.
I’m thinking Momma-dani should look into free limos (stretch G-wagens for immigrants or Broncos for hip black women?) with self-steam-cleaning between riders. I mean if you are going to build a Muslim communist utopia, do it right bro/grrl/unk. I wonder how many other Americans like me wish they could immigrate to a better place, and get free shit.
“Yo cabby, smell you later.” — Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (from the French for “pleasant air”)
Interesting to see Momma-dani is/was advocating self-cleaning public bathrooms. It really would fix an underlying issue. But I think they tried that in the past and it ended up being a place for junkies to shoot up, or the chronically home-challenged just peed on the side of them. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Maybe this time they ought to spray a naloxone mist when the user enters. Perhaps play some Wagner to hurry them up. Burger King used to have guards to ensure carousing drinkers bought a Whopper before they used their bathrooms in NYC, which is in part why the alleys were so pungent.
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/mamdani-wants-to-install-self-cleaning-modular-public-bathrooms-to-help-with-access-all-across-town-011226