Sadiq Khan has given a glimpse into what his relationship with New York’s Mayor is like – and if the two have any plans to meet up.
It’s been just a few weeks since Zohran Mamdani, 34, was sworn in as the city’s mayor, the first Muslim leader of the city.
Comparisons have been drawn between the two due to their religion and left-wing ideologies, such as policies of making the cities cheaper to live in and tackling the rising costs of public transport.
Now Khan has given his fresh take on his American counterpart.
Speaking to Metro, Khan jokingly said: ‘Zohran is young, charismatic, good looking, so I hate him, obviously.’
When asked about their plans to meet up, Khan said: ‘We will have to wait and see.
‘We’re both very busy being mayors of great cities.
‘We’ve messaged, of course. And we are keen to work together on any issues we can.
‘We both face cost-of-living challenges, similar challenges in relation to addressing the housing crisis and we’re both trying to help residents of our cities in terms of addressing those issues.’
The 55-year-old mayor, who is almost halfway through his second term, also briefly spoke about the challenges the pair have faced with Donald Trump.
The US President has previously called Khan ‘a nasty, stupid guy’ and falsely claimed he wants to introduce Sharia law, the religious legal system of Islam, in London.
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The mayor hit back, previously exclusively telling Metro Trump has ‘a crush on me’ and he is ‘living rent-free’ inside the US President’s head.
‘We both have a challenge in President Trump to deal with, but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do together,’ Khan added.
‘I’m a believer in collaboration rather than competition, so let’s see what happens in New York.’
The London Mayor was speaking to Metro during the launch of Transport for London’s new SL11 Superloop route.
The route, which goes into service this weekend, will replace the 472 bus, running from Abbey Wood and North Greenwich via Thamesmead in south east London.
The new route is being launched just over a month after it was confirmed Londoners will face upcoming Tube fare rise in March.
When asked about how he justifies the increase as Londoners are feeling the pinch, the mayor argued that London has the cheapest bus fares in the country and that bus fares have been frozen for seven years.
He told Metro: ‘We have got the cheapest bus fares in the country, £1.75. But also in London you’ve got the hopper fares.
‘You can change buses as many times as you want within the course of an hour.’
He said the measures are important because ‘we want to help the poorest Londoners with the cost of living crisis,’ adding that the least well-off residents tend to use buses more than other public transport.
‘As far as tube fares are concerned, we’ve frozen them on 5 occasions,’ he said.
He added they weren’t able to freeze the fares again this year as the Government had insisted they needed to be increased as a condition of the £2.2 billion support package.
‘I didn’t want to do it, but if we’re going to invest in public transport, we’ve got to be grown up about working with the government,’ he said.
For the service’s first week – Londoners will be able to ride the service for free. They will still be required to touch in with a valid Oyster card or contactless card as they board the bus as usual but won’t be charged.
It is expected to make journeys quicker thanks to more frequent services and fewer stops.
However, some passengers on the stops previously served by 472 might have to use other buses or change as the Superloop has fewer stops.
A new night bus, N472, will run from 12.15am to 4.45am and stop at all the route 472 stops every 30 minutes.
The mayor said: ‘I’m delighted to launch the latest Superloop, SL11, a new express bus route connecting communities from North Greenwich to Abbey Wood via Thamesmead and Woolwich.
‘In my manifesto I pledged to bring in Superloop-style express buses, while major projects like the DLR to Thamesmead are underway, and I’m proud to have delivered on this.
‘Replacing the 472 with this faster, more direct service will help to support early regeneration plans in Thamesmead and boost transport links in a historically under-served part of London.’
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