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NY's "subway" mayor is chauffeured to train station
Wed Aug 1, 11:36 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, boasts that he rides the subway "almost every day" but a quarter of his commute is spent in a chauffeured SUV, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The Times monitored the mayor's routine for five weeks and discovered that instead of walking to a local train near his house, Bloomberg is driven to a swifter express train 22 blocks away.
Bloomberg's morning commute with the masses is a major part of his public image, and the revelation comes as Bloomberg is under scrutiny because of continuing speculation he is considering a presidential bid in 2008. The mayor says he has no plans to run for the White House.
Bloomberg has cultivated a national reputation as a champion of carbon emissions control and a strict enforcer of gun laws. He is also the main proponent of a plan to reduce traffic that would charge motorists $8 a day to drive on Manhattan streets.
On mornings that he travels from his East 79th Street townhouse to City Hall, in lower Manhattan, the mayor is met by two "king-size Chevrolet Suburbans," the Times said.
Rather than walk five minutes to the nearest subway station, where he can catch a train that stops every few blocks, Bloomberg is driven 22 blocks to an express station for a train that makes fewer stops.
The routine cuts the duration of the mayor's commute by one-third, the newspaper said.
Bloomberg's chief spokesman, Stu Loeser, was not immediately available for comment. But he told the Times, "The mayor rides the subway like anyone else."
Link to article
NY's "subway" mayor is chauffeured to train station
Wed Aug 1, 11:36 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, boasts that he rides the subway "almost every day" but a quarter of his commute is spent in a chauffeured SUV, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The Times monitored the mayor's routine for five weeks and discovered that instead of walking to a local train near his house, Bloomberg is driven to a swifter express train 22 blocks away.
Bloomberg's morning commute with the masses is a major part of his public image, and the revelation comes as Bloomberg is under scrutiny because of continuing speculation he is considering a presidential bid in 2008. The mayor says he has no plans to run for the White House.
Bloomberg has cultivated a national reputation as a champion of carbon emissions control and a strict enforcer of gun laws. He is also the main proponent of a plan to reduce traffic that would charge motorists $8 a day to drive on Manhattan streets.
On mornings that he travels from his East 79th Street townhouse to City Hall, in lower Manhattan, the mayor is met by two "king-size Chevrolet Suburbans," the Times said.
Rather than walk five minutes to the nearest subway station, where he can catch a train that stops every few blocks, Bloomberg is driven 22 blocks to an express station for a train that makes fewer stops.
The routine cuts the duration of the mayor's commute by one-third, the newspaper said.
Bloomberg's chief spokesman, Stu Loeser, was not immediately available for comment. But he told the Times, "The mayor rides the subway like anyone else."
