Staten Island student pays thousands to get to school, asks Mayor Mamdani to make express buses free for students
New York City schools are almost back in session, and a Staten Island teenager is calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to make express buses free for all students.
Students get free public transit rides with their OMNY cards, but express buses are excluded.
She says it would save families thousands of dollars.
During the school year, Daeun Kim, 17, catches the express bus at least five days a week from Staten Island to the Upper West Side. It's a commute she knows all too well. Kim's trip to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts takes about 90 minutes each way.
"Take the SIM8, and then I would go to 42nd Street, and then I would take the 1 to go to 66th Street and I walk to my school," Kim said. "There is no other way for me to get there without taking the express bus."
The charge is $7.25 each way, for a round trip total of $14.50 a day. With 180 school days required by the state each year, the annual total is about $2,610.
Kim is calling on Mamdani, who campaigned on fast and free buses, to take action. She wrote him a letter.
"Staten Island students often face a choice between an immense financial burden or time poverty," Kim said.
She also posted to social media.
"I have only one wish, and that it's for me to get free bus rides next school year," she said.
Kim said the costs add up.
"For my brother, four years, and for me, for three years, it's going to be $18,270," she said. That doesn't include her senior year.
The mayor's office released a statement but did not address Kim's call for free express buses.
"Every New Yorker deserves access to fast, reliable and affordable transportation, including NYC students. This administration continues to work with our partners at the state and local level in order to make transit more affordable, and the mayor remains committed to ensuring city buses are free for all New Yorkers," Deputy Press Secretary Jeremy Edwards said.
"I was jokingly telling my friends that I was going to give him two months and if he doesn't respond, I was going to go to City Hall and do something about it," Kim said.
