The cost of Zohran Mamdani’s free bus proposal could be more than his estimate of about $700 million.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber this week finally weighed in on the logistics in an interview on NY1 , and said bus revenue is expected to be closer to $1 billion a year in the next few years. He says that, like congestion pricing, it needs to be extensively studied.

“If a lot more people are riding the bus, are we going to need more buses or are we going to need more bus drivers?” Lieber asked. “Will we need extra depots? What will be the impact on subway fare revenue if everyone moves to the — or some people move to the — bus, right? Those need to be studied.”

He also said Mamdani’s plan could affect bonds the MTA sells to make improvements to the system as many bonds are backed by f

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