Political promises of "free buses" in New York City are contributing to a spike in fare evasion that is costing the city's mass transit system millions of dollars, transit officials warn.
In July, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Janno Lieber blamed political rhetoric for fueling fare evasion, though he never mentioned Mayor Zohran Mamdani by name.
"There's a trend that broke out," Lieber told reporters following a meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, according to the New York Post. "With malice towards none, I say all of the talk of free buses, it has an impact."
The MTA reported that paid bus ridership fell nearly 8% in June compared to the same month last year. During Mamdani's first six months in office, bus fare revenue fell by $31 million compared to the first half of 2025. Agency estimates show nearly half of bus riders now skip the $3 fare.
Mamdani Shrugs Off Aoc's 'Woke 1' Comments, But Critic Says Progressives Can't Be Absolved Of 'Radical' Past

#lieber

It is tough to sweep a four-game series, unless you are the impossibly hot Boston Red Sox. Perhaps Shane Bieber took it upon himself to make Kyle Snyder, Kevin Cash, and the front office beliebers and effort to acquire him before the August 3rd deadline. Bieber had his second consecutive fantastic outing since the break with seven innings of one-run baseball allowing just three baserunners before handing it over to the A-pen to finish the game.
This was the type of game Toronto envisioned this winter, but has rarely been able to put together throguhout this frustrating season. The three runs scored today was the most runs the team has scored in their last six games, but it was the pitching that was story of the game and why the Rays offense was mostly lifeless today.
Bieber himself had just 8 swings and misses on 39 pitches, but he did a fantastic job working an extremely liberal strike zone to his advantage for seven innings:
The zone was questionable all day, but it was not until the 7th inning that any Rays batter challenged a pitch. Jonny DeLuca challenged a first pitch cutter that was well off the plate and had it overturned:
There were not many pitches more aggregiously wrong than this one, but Bieber certainly enjoyed a fair number of favorable strike calls in this contest yet the Rays were stubborn in using their challenges until DeLuca apparently had enough in the 7th inning:

#game #deluca #three #runs

It started in a college dorm room.

Alex Lieberman was studying at Michigan’s Ross Business School.

His classmates hated reading dry business news from WSJ and Bloomberg.

So Alex wrote a fun version of the news—just for his friends.