Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could make driving in the Big Apple hell on wheels.
Car-hating Transportation Alternatives boss Ben Furnas has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdaniâs transition team for transportation, climate and infrastructure â and his agenda is a nightmare for the cityâs drivers.
Furnas was named to the post this week, but his group already had its âfull transportation agendaâ for the incoming administration ready to go, having released it earlier this month.

Among the planâs more than 80 demands is a bizarre proposal to build playgrounds smack in the middle of city streets that would then be redesigned into cul-de-sacs â a move the group claims will solve the cityâs âplayground desert problem.â
The plan fails to mention how traffic would be rerouted.
The group also wants to create âschool streetsâ by closing streets to traffic near every New York City school. Currently 72 of the Big Appleâs nearly 3,000 schools have done so.
Transportation Alternatives is pushing to build busways on every major city route â similar to the controversial plans to ban cars on 34th Street that even bus riders have opposed.
At a community meeting earlier this year, Murray Hill residents voiced concerns that after first banning cars on 14th Street, and now 34th Street, the anti-car lobby had its eyes on 42nd Street next.
Transportation Alternativesâ blueprint confirms such a fear by pushing for busways on âevery high-priority bus route, as measured by factors including highest ridership and slowest speeds.â
âIâm so sick and tired of reading âoh, New York City busses are the slowest,’â slammed Stacey Rauch, a Murray Hill resident who takes the bus every day and argues the problem is the lack of busses â not the fact theyâre slowed down by cars.


âItâs like a cult â âcars are bad,’â she added. âBe a little bit reasonable and understand that sometimes some people canât live your puritanical, cultish indulgence of either always walking or biking,â she said, arguing Furnasâ plans will hurt seniors and people with reduced mobility.
âHe may think heâs doing good. I bet you if he went to his grandma, she wouldnât be too happy.â
Furnasâ group also calls to slash parking spots all over the five boroughs â with plans to ârepurposeâ the space on blocks close to subway stations with âamenitiesâ like wider sidewalks, larger bus shelters, bike parking, benches, so-called âmicro forestsâ and even public restrooms.

City Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) slammed the plans, saying the DOTâs âhandlersâ at Transportation Alternatives have long ignored the needs of families, seniors, workers and small businesses.
âIf the Mamdani administration lets them continue to turn our neighborhoods into playgrounds in the middle of streets and wage war on drivers, it will be a disaster for public safety, quality of life and basic common sense,â he told The Post.
âThe fact that the worst DOT commissioner of all time, Ydanis Rodriguez, is apparently in line for a job in the Mamdani administration shows exactly how bad things could get.


The polarizing rat-riddled street dining shacks could also come back in full force â with Transportation Alternatives calling to âensure the program is year-round, permits enclosed structures and is less onerous for small businesses.â
The powerful anti-car group, which indirectly lobbies for Uber and Lyft, has long wielded power with lefty city officials through a relationship critics have described as incestuous.
But Furnasâ appointment gives Transportation Alternatives power to go even further and stack Mamdaniâs Department of Transportation chock-full of like-minded zealots, critics said.
âIâm furious,â slammed Rauch. âI voted for Mamdani â he didnât take PAC money. Why is he favoring special interest groups?â


Among Furnasâ key allies appointed to the transition team are Sara Lind from Open Plans and Betsy Plum from the Riders Alliance.
Furnas tried to sell his groupâs agenda as a win for drivers.
âWhen itâs easier and cheaper for more New Yorkers to get around by bus or bike, the reduction in traffic will make it quicker and safer for everyone who still has to drive,â he told The Post.
âLook at how successful congestion pricing has been for drivers: traffic is reliably flowing smoothly in Manhattan for the first time in our lifetimes. New Yorkers are saving valuable minutes every day on their commutes. Donât you want some more time back?â he added.
Mamdaniâs team did not return The Postâs request for comment.