6 Travel Challenges for New York City's New Mayor


Skift Take

The city is an urban playground for visitors and locals alike and we'd like to see its new leader take inspiration from his sometimes dictatorial and always opinionated predecessor.

[gallery ids="114235,94993,94994,94997,94998,95001"] Yesterday New York City elected its first new leader in 12 years, and mayor-elect Bill De Blasio has some very big, not to mention expensive, shoes to fill. His predecessor Michael Bloomberg used his dozen years in power to help re-invent the way New York City welcomes travelers and keeps its locals moving in ways that had not been seen since the mega-planning and wholesale urban re-invention (and sometimes destruction) days of city planner Robert Moses. Bloomberg gave the city bikeshare and bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, the High Line, and taxi-hailing apps. He often did so by giving his transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan extreme powers to make moves under cover of darkness or against the wishes of vocal car-loving neighbors. We liked it. But there are a few messes the new New York City mayor is stepping into that we'd like to see tackled to improve the quality of life for both visitors and residents as they move about the U.S.'s best city. New Economy Clarity, Part 1: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick pushed his car hail app on the city whether it wanted it (consumers did) or not (the Taxi & Limousine Commission didn't). His ballsy moves made the city