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The honeymoon is almost over, so why not take a trip down memory lane?
Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor on Thursday, topping off a remarkable year where he went from zero (well, almost) in Democratic primary polls to hero of New York City voters in November’s general election.
Mamdani stayed relentlessly on-message during the campaign. We tried to get the mayoral candidate to do the “Dave Colon Challenge” and ride a bike with our senior reporter, but his team declined (repeatedly). Still the soon-to-be mayor managed to make headlines all years on the Streetsblog beat.
Here are the highlights. Vote for your favorite at the bottom of the article.
‘It’s pronounced cyclist’
Mamdani made his love of (and dependence on) Citi Bike well-known on the campaign trail — so much so that Time Magazine declared him the city’s “first Citi Bike mayor.”
He even got his NYPD security detail to ride along, as you can see in the clip below from October, which captures the Democratic nominee and the cops protecting him undocking white Citi Bike e-bikes after an event on the Upper East Side.
An onlooker yelled, “Communist!” at Mamdani, who replied, “It’s pronounced cyclist!” before he road away. (Transportation Alternatives sells “It’s pronounced cyclist” t-shirt on its website.)
Advocacy for faster buses on 34th Street
In July, Mamdani boosted Streetsblog’s exclusive reporting that Mayor Adams’s administration had halted all work on its proposed 34th Street busway, criticizing the move as “a familiar tale under this mayor.”
“Why did he do this? Did a donor give him a call? Is he feuding with a local elected officials? With Eric Adams, you never really know,,” Mamdani said in a video posted a week after our scoop.
The clip above, which got millions of views across various platforms, featured no less than seven screenshots of Streetsblog headlines.
Riding the city’s slowest bus
Mamdani took his campaign pledge for “fast and free buses” on the road with a photo op ride on Oct. 9 on “the city’s slowest bus,” the M57. On the ride, Mamdani spoke to members of the public and took questions from the press. (Streetsblog asked the candidate if he would stand up to DOT insiders who disagree with universal daylighting, which he supports. He said yes.)
Zohran Mamdani met bus riders where they were on the campaign trail, and they voted for him expecting faster trips to get where they’re going.Dave Colon
Mamdani also took the opportunity on the ride to distance himself from some of the anti-bus and anti-bike candidates supporting his candidacy, such as Fordham bus priority opponent Council Member Oswald Feliz and Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte, the Brooklyn Democratic Party leader who fought the McGuinness Boulevard protected bike lane and traffic calming project.
“I’ve been very clear that what I’m running on is exactly what I plan to deliver,” he said. “As a first order of business, I’ll be restarting so much of what this current administration has put on pause or indefinite hold.”
Rallying to Make McGuinness Safer
Mamdani reiterated that commitment to see through the various projects killed by the Adams administration and its crony allies at a rally on McGuinness Boulevard following the indictment of Adams Senior Adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin.
The demo with supporters of a road diet on McGuinness came after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Lewis-Martin for allegedly accepting bribes from local film set owners to water down the safety project.
Zohran Mamdani rallying on McGuinness Boulevard in August.Photo: Kevin Duggan
“We need a politics where the decision is not determined by the last person who calls you, and just how much money they have,” Mamdani said at the event, before pivoting to the fight over Fordham Road bus improvements in the Bronx.
“I do not think that the Botanical Garden should have the final say on whether or not there’s a Fordham busway,” he said.
That out-front advocacy for transit and transit riders won Mamdani plaudits from transit advocates and transit leaders alike. Riders Alliance recently sold a “bus mayor” 2026 calendar full of glamour pics of the mayor-elect. (They once dubbed Mayor Adams “bus mayor,” but rescinded the title after he failed to deliver on his big promises to speed up service.)
Will Mamdani live up to the “bus mayor” expectations? Only time can tell.
The promise of pedestrianization
The best street-safety plan is simply getting cars off our streets. During the mayoral primary campaign, Mamdani famously told Streetsblog that not only did he support congestion pricing, but saw it as a tool for wider pedestrianization.
“With congestion pricing finally operational and quickly proving an overwhelming success, we have an opportunity to transform large amounts of public space within and around the relief zone,” he said. “I would focus on pedestrianization and building protected bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes and other street infrastructure, particularly for high foot traffic areas in and around Times Square and the entire Financial District.”
He added that he wants DOT “to reimagine north-south running avenues, e.g. converting general travel lanes to pedestrian space, protected bike infrastructure or bus lanes [and] implement busways on all major east-west arteries in Manhattan.”
“This infrastructure will encourage mode-switching — getting people out of cars and onto bikes or buses — and is essential to continuing to reduce congestion, improve air quality and make the streets safer,” he added.
As we’ve always said, the best “bus mayor” is the best pedestrian mayor.
Obviously, confidence is high that this mayoralty is going to work out, but who knows. Until we find out, vote for your favorite 2025 Streetsblog/Mamdani moment. Polls are open through Friday (if you don’t see the ballot below, refresh your browser):
