{"id":7205,"date":"2026-08-23T08:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7205"},"modified":"2026-08-23T08:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:05:51","slug":"staten-island-teen-issues-instagram-plea-to-mamdani-for-omny-cards-to-cover-express-buses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7205","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island teen issues Instagram plea to Mamdani for OMNY cards to cover express buses"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After her letter to City Hall went unanswered, a teenager from Staten Island took to Instagram with a plea for Mayor Mamdani.<\/p>\n

Read more Gavin Newsom signs controversial \u2018Stop Nick Shirley Act\u2019 into law<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI have only one wish, and that\u2019s for me to get free bus rides to school next year,\u201d 17-year-old Daeun Kim begins in the video, which published on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Kim is about to start her final year at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts \u2014 whose alumni include actor Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet \u2014 in Lincoln Square next fall.<\/p>\n

She said her parents, working-class immigrants from Korea, have had to shell out a whopping $18,270 just in bus fare to send her and her brother to public school in Manhattan over the past four years.<\/p>\n

Students get free public transit rides with their OMNY cards, but express buses are excluded. That\u2019s what most Staten Island students like her \u2014 who go to school in the city \u2014 have to take, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople bring up the free ferry but for a lot of us, the ferry isn\u2019t close. It would mean a 30-minute drive or a 90-minute bus ride just to reach it, and then another subway after [the ferry] to go to the school,\u201d she explained in the clip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe express bus stops right in front of my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video quickly went viral \u2014 amassing 97,000 likes since it was posted.<\/p>\n

Kim, who has a 4.0 GPA, said taking the ferry would make her entire commute three hours long instead of the hour and a half it takes on the express bus, which cost $7.25 each way \u2014 or $14.50 per child a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a geographical disadvantage that kids from other boroughs don\u2019t have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more Ohio doctor who studied \u2018homicidal adolescent\u2019 gunned down in scheme hatched by teen daughter after argument<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of immigrant families in Staten Island commute to school in Manhattan every day for better schools and opportunities. I have one year of high school left and I don\u2019t want my mom to keep sacrificing her weekend just to afford my commute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim, who hopes to study psychology at Cornell University after she graduates next year and open an art therapy foundation for immigrants, mailed a letter to City Hall in June, but it went unanswered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI jokingly said to my friends that I\u2019m going to give Mamdani two months and if he doesn\u2019t respond, I\u2019m going to go to City Hall or do something about it,\u201d she told The Post by phone Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo then when it didn\u2019t happen, I sat at my desk and made a video.\u201d<\/p>\n

She told The Post the main reason she did it was to express her gratitude toward her parents, who have worked longer hours to send their children to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was a nurse in Korea, but she\u2019s been working as a nail technician in Brooklyn because that was the only job she could get without speaking English. I\u2019ve gone to the salon and watched her kneel in front of customers until 8 p.m., and this past semester we often didn\u2019t get home together until 10 p.m.,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf this issue gets resolved, I\u2019m hoping I\u2019ll finally get to see my mom on weekends, and have dinner and say good night to her on school days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same goes for my dad. Both of my parents gave up their careers to support my brother and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Michael Goodwin: Don\u2019t be fooled by Hochul\u2019s act \u2014\u00a0she\u2019s just as radical as Mamdani<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office didn\u2019t immediately return The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I have only one wish, and that’s for me to get free bus rides to school next year,” 17-year-old Daeun Kim said in a since-viral Instagram video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nStaten Island teen issues Instagram plea to Mamdani for OMNY cards to cover express buses - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7205\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staten Island teen issues Instagram plea to Mamdani for OMNY cards to cover express buses - 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