That failure led to City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu slapping DOT with a \u201cbig, fat F\u201d<\/a> in March. It also resulted in 10 transportation and safe streets advocacy groups urging the city to more clearly chart its progress on goals that include speeding up some of the country\u2019s slowest buses, connecting a protected bike lane network<\/a>, expanding pedestrian space and reducing the use of vehicles.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a vision for a people-oriented city,\u201d said Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans, a safe streets advocacy group. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean no driving, but that does mean that the design of our streets and public spaces is commensurate with the people who use it, the majority of whom don\u2019t drive around the city on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n In a letter to city Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn<\/a>, the advocates framed the call for more transparency as key to saving New Yorkers time and money.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you finalize the plan, we urge you to adopt metrics tied to affordability, liability and the freedom to move,\u201d reads the letter, which was provided to The City Reporter.<\/p>\n A New \u2018Vision Zero\u2019 Plan to End Traffic Deaths<\/p>\n The push for more frequent updates from the city in what is being done to speed bus service and make other street-level improvements came as the Mamdani administration will release a separate plan for street safety on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cVision Zero Reimagined<\/a>\u201d is billed as a 10-year blueprint to cut down on traffic fatalities and create the city\u2019s first pedestrian-only and pedestrian-priority districts. According to DOT, traffic deaths have fallen by 30% since Vision Zero was launched in 2014 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/p>\n \u201cThat progress is just that \u2014 progress \u2014 and alone is not enough,\u201d Flynn said at a Monday press briefing. \u201cToo many families are still experiencing preventable loss and too many of the most dangerous behaviors persist.\u201d<\/p>\n The updated Vision Zero plan\u2019s goals include removing dangerous drivers from city streets, promoting \u201csafe, certified micromobility\u201d with stronger licensing requirements for mopeds and motorcycles and cutting down on larger vehicles that account for a disproportionate number of pedestrian deaths.<\/p>\n The Vision Zero update is on top of the city and state\u2019s bus action plan<\/a> launched in July. That plan<\/a> is geared toward boosting bus speeds, cutting travel times and improving service along 50 of the city\u2019s most problematic corridors.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the other half of Mamdani\u2019s bus-centered transit campaign pledge \u2014 to have fare-free rides<\/a> \u2014 has yet to materialize and has drawn pushback from the head of the MTA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Achieving \u2014 and Communicating \u2014 Progress on Safer Streets<\/p>\n The first New York City Streets Plan<\/a> was introduced in December 2021 under a law passed by the City Council more than two years earlier<\/a>. It requires the city to present a five-year vision for improving the safety, accessibility and quality of city streets, while also curbing the use of automobiles.<\/p>\n But over the course of those years, the DOT did not come close to meeting its annual mandate<\/a> of protecting 250 miles of bike lanes and creating 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes with camera monitoring.<\/p>\n Danny Pearlstein, policy director for Riders Alliance, a transit advocacy organization, said City Hall must hit its marks and provide progress reports to the public. He cited how the MTA provides reams of metrics<\/a> that detail how its trains and buses are performing<\/a>, along with its elevators and escalators.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MTA has certainly come a long way with its open data work,\u201d Pearlstein said. \u201cWe\u2019re asking the city to meet and then exceed those expectations by communicating directly and regularly with the public about how well our streets are performing, whether they\u2019re providing the transit service we deserve, the safety and accessibility that we deserve and whether they are, in fact, lowering the cost in time and money of living in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n Will Livingston, a DOT spokesperson, said the suggestions \u201calign with how we will be approaching the next Streets Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mamdani administration is committed to reimagining New York City\u2019s streetscape through bold and innovative design strategies that make traveling throughout the five boroughs safer, more affordable and more accessible,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n Advocates expressed hope that the city will show significant progress from what was made under previous administrations.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s important looking forward is not only that the marks are met, but that the results are being communicated,\u201d Pearlstein said. \u201cI think the mayor understands this extremely well, that transforming the streets is about demonstrating that New Yorkers are deserving of a transformation of those streets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing shows that like showing the direct benefits in people\u2019s lives, whether that\u2019s faster buses, safer crossings or more kids able to walk to school by themselves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Mamdani administration ramps up to release its first legally mandated streets plan, advocates on Tuesday will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1209,1159,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-348082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-buses","tag-e-bikes","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Car](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/091426_cars_cyclists.jpg\")
Car and cyclists converge at a Lower Manhattan intersection, Sept. 14, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n