Overview
- At a March 3 oversight hearing, Transportation Chair Shaun Abreu blasted the agency’s record, giving it a failing grade and demanding concrete timelines and staffing needs.
- DOT’s latest update reported 2025 deliveries of 20.8 miles of bus lanes and 18.2 miles of protected bike lanes, short of the 30- and 50-mile annual requirements set in the 2019 law.
- Commissioner Mike Flynn said a revamped implementation plan will come later this year and emphasized goals like faster buses and fewer serious crashes, but he declined under oath to commit to the statutory mileage benchmarks.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s team has restarted stalled projects, including Fordham Road bus lanes in the Bronx and a protected bike lane on McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn, with a proposed $5 million recurring DOT staffing boost now headed to budget talks on March 17.
- Key disputes persist over what counts toward compliance—such as adding cameras to existing bus lanes—and over FDNY review timelines, with fire officials refusing to set firm deadlines despite council pressure to speed project sign-offs.