{"id":375263,"date":"2025-11-13T05:42:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375263\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T05:42:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T05:42:29","slug":"mamdani-eyeing-dot-veterans-including-vision-zero-czar-for-transportation-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375263\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani eyeing DOT veterans, including ‘Vision Zero’ czar, for Transportation commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two New York transit experts \u2014 one of whom oversaw the launch of the city\u2019s \u201cVision Zero<\/a>\u201d street safety initiative \u2014 have emerged as early favorites to become mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s Department of Transportation commissioner, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

The DOT could be an especially important agency for Mamdani, whose campaign promises included a vow to make the city\u2019s public buses \u201cfast and free.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Among other responsibilities, the agency is in charge of turning car routes into bus corridors to speed up bus traffic. Mamdani has pledged to make such conversions a big priority for the agency, and his team is eyeing Ryan Russo and Nivardo Lopez, two veterans of the department with deep experience in street redesign efforts, as potential picks for DOT commissioner, the four sources told the Daily News this week.<\/p>\n

\"DOTDOT Deputy Commissioner Ryan Russo on the Brooklyn Bridge bike path on Monday, August 8, 2016. (Jefferson Siegel\/New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Another name that has been floated as a potential DOT pick for Mamdani, sources said, is Ben Furnas<\/a>, the executive director of the Transportation Alternatives advocacy group. Russo and Lopez are seen as having a better shot at landing the job, two sources said.<\/p>\n

Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec declined to discuss any potential appointments. \u201cNo personnel decisions have been made,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lopez and Russo didn\u2019t return requests for comment. Furnas declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who is being sworn in as mayor Jan. 1, has said publicly he isn\u2019t ruling out keeping Ydanis Rodriguez, the current DOT commissioner who endorsed his mayoral run late last month<\/a>. But sources said Rodriguez, who was appointed by Mayor Adams, is unlikely to get to keep his job once Mamdani takes office.<\/p>\n

Russo worked at the city DOT for 14 years, starting under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, before departing in 2017 to become the first permanent head of the Department of Transportation of Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n

While at the NYC DOT, Russo, serving as a top deputy to then-Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, oversaw the rollout and implementation<\/a> of \u201cVision Zero,\u201d the de Blasio administration initiative aimed at eliminating traffic deaths by redesigning streets to make them more bike, pedestrian and bus-friendly.<\/p>\n

Russo, who\u2019s currently the executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, was for a time especially focused on non-motorized transit efforts while at city DOT, serving as the agency\u2019s director of \u201cbicycle and pedestrian programs\u201d between 2006 and 2009. Mamdani, a big proponent of expanding the city\u2019s bike lane networks, has said he plans to as mayor at least occasionally commute to City Hall on two wheels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lopez also has city DOT experience, having served in senior roles at the agency throughout Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s eight years at City Hall. At the time he left the agency in November 2021, he was the DOT\u2019s Bronx borough commissioner.<\/p>\n

Lopez then served as Gov. Hochul\u2019s top transportation deputy between November 2021 and June 2024 before taking on his current role as the principal deputy chief program officer for the Gateway Development Commission, the entity responsible for building the new rail tunnel underneath the Hudson River<\/a> connecting New York and New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Besides expanding bus and bicycle networks, Mamdani has his work cut out for him when it comes to transit issues as his promise to make buses free would require a steady stream of new funding. His campaign has estimated it could cost some $800 million annually.<\/p>\n

In order to allocating such funds, Mamdani has proposed increasing taxes on millionaires and corporations in the city. Such tax hikes would require support from Gov. Hochul, who has been openly critical of any increases next year.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, Hochul also said she was opposed to the underlying idea of making buses free for everyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot set forth a plan right now that takes money out of a system that relies on the fares of the buses and the subways,\u201d she told reporters last weekend. \u201cBut can we find a path to make it more affordable for people who need help? Of course we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two New York transit experts \u2014 one of whom oversaw the launch of the city\u2019s \u201cVision Zero\u201d street…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":375264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13239,32898,52471,405,403,5226,5225,180542,5228,5227,180541,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-375263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city-hall","10":"tag-department-of-transportation","11":"tag-dot","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-nivardo-lopez","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-ryan-russo","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115540797465651635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}