Flying Buses And Robot Horses: Mayor Hopeful's Plan For NYC

NEW YORK CITY, NY — Let's face it, New York City's transit system needs some work. City buses are often cramped, get stuck in gridlock and can be all-around unreliable. But one mayoral hopeful has a plan to fix the system.

Make the buses fly.

Tech entrepreneur and mayoral longshot Mike Tolkin announced his plan for the "Skybus" on Twitter.

"Introducing Skybuses: drone-based transit that enables faster and more efficient interborough transit," the Tolkin campaign account tweeted.

But that's not all. Just a day before announcing "Skybus," Tolkin proposed replacing carriage horses in Central Park with robotic equines.

"Horse-drawn carriages in #NYC are nothing short of animal cruelty. We will be implementing robotic carriage horses to protect animal rights," a tweet read.

Tolkin — who's running for the Democratic nomination but also on a second ballot line he created called "Smart Cities" — isn't talking about science fiction, and it doesn't appear as if the policies are a joke (although one Twitter user accused the candidate of pulling our collective chains).

The image accompanying his "Skybus" tweet proudly reads "Coming soon,l" and a follow-up tweet gives credit to German drone manufacturer Lilium Aviation.

Patch reached out to Tolkin's campaign but was unable to speak with the candidate about how he would implement the policies.

Tolkin's campaign website doesn't appear to have any specific information on the Skybus or robotic horse proposals, but the basic gist of his campaign is to make New York City government "smarter." Tolkin has proposed a full overhaul of city government in the name of increased efficiency and "long-term initiatives" for what his campaign has deemed the 2030 strategic plan.

Tolkin's website also says the candidate is shaping a $25 billion capital improvement plan for the city's public transportation system. Flying buses aren't cheap, you know.

If Patch hears back from Tolkin about the Skybus or robotic horse proposals we'll update this article.

Main photo courtesy Lilium Aviation