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Connections
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
Connections

Examining Mamdani’s proposal for free public transit - in NYC and beyond

By Evan Dawson,
Elissa Orlando, Julie Williams
Published September 12, 2025 at 4:29 PM EDT
Three men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man at left has short grey hair and is wearing a maroon pullover; a man at center has brown hair and is wearing glasses, a black blazer with a hot pink bicycle pin on the lapel, light grey button-down shirt and dark grey tie; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a lavender button-down shirt, jeans and sneakers.
Julie Williams
/
WXXI News
Amit Batabyal and Cody Donahue with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, September 12, 2025
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
WXXI News

What would happen if cities offered free public transit for anyone who wants to use it? New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to do just that.

Economist Amit Batabyal recently examined some data to see what the impact would be - and the answers were not what many of his readers in the Rochester Beacon expected.

We’ll discuss what could happen if transit were free and widely accessible.

In studio:

Connections
Evan Dawson
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
See stories by Evan Dawson
Elissa Orlando
Elissa Orlando is a producer for “Connections with Evan Dawson.” She returns part-time to WXXI News after stepping back from a long career in public media and in translational science.
See stories by Elissa Orlando
Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
See stories by Julie Williams