// Big news in the world of North American municipal politics this week. In my hometown of Montreal, exactly what I feared was going to happen, happened. Projet Montréal lost the mayoralty of the city. This came as no surprise to me. After eight years, the charismatic, positive, and popular Valérie Plante announced she wasn't going to run again. When I met Projet Montréal's candidate last month, I knew they were in trouble. After two terms, any administration is going to rub a lot of citizens the wrong way; Projet Montréal's ambitious program alienated many citizens, and they got blamed for rents doubling since 2019. The party needed a big, relatable personality to fill Plante's shoes. The man they chose, Luc Rabouin, has lots of good ideas. But he reminded too many citizens of what they didn't like about Projet Montréal—the kind of climate-warrior, damn-the-torpedoes missionary zeal that allowed the opposition, Ensemble Montréal, to win votes by promising they would spend more time listening to citizens. (Rabouin announced his resignation after Projet Montréal lost all but their strongholds in the city-center boroughs.) For what it's worth, Craig Sauvé, the leader of the Transition Montréal party (I explain why he got my vote for mayor here), believes that the new mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, is a centrist, and doesn't expect her to tear out existing bike lanes or attack the Bixi bikeshare program. That's a relief. But, for at least the next four years, I'm expecting stasis, not progress. Ensemble Montréal will endlessly solicit public opinion, bow to NIMBY objections, and nothing much will get done. (Maybe I should move to Paris for four years...)
This week, though, I'm smiling, because Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of the great city of New York. This is the ray of sunshine a lot of us needed in the dark November of 2025. And, with democratic victories in New Jersey, Virginia, and other races, maybe it's the pivot point so many of us have been hoping for.
Mamdani campaigned on making New York City's buses "fast and free." He's taken a lot of the usual crap for this proposal. Conservatives hate free-riders, in all realms of society. (When you think of it, every word in the expression "Free Public Transit" is a trigger for them.) Poor people will pour out of those free buses and steal our TVs! Mark our words—the buses are going to become rolling homeless shelters, and nobody will want to ride them! The terrorists will turn them into high-speed bombs! (Presumably the Keanu Reeves vehicle Speed left an indelible mark on many MAGA minds.)
Now that Mamdani has won—handily, bless you Gen Z voters—I figure it's a good time to take a look at the real pros and cons of free transit.
