Mayor Zohran Mamdani appoints DOT veteran Mike Flynn to lead agency during inauguration ceremony

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani named longtime transportation official Mike Flynn as commissioner of the Department of Transportation (DOT) during his swearing-in ceremony.

The announcement came on Thursday, January 1, moments after Mamdani took the oath of office at a long-abandoned subway station beneath City Hall Park.

Mamdani described the appointment as central to his administration’s plans to reshape the city’s transportation system. Flynn will succeed current DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, who was appointed under former Mayor Eric Adams.

Zohran Mamdani announces DOT appointment

Mamdani introduced Flynn immediately after assuming office, describing him as uniquely suited to lead the agency.

“I can think of no better person,” Mamdani said, emphasizing the need for experienced leadership at the Department of Transportation.

“Leading the DOT will require someone who’s experienced, who is fluent in the landscape as it is, who is ambitious and imaginative towards the landscape as it could be,” he added.

The ceremony took place in a vaulted, long-shuttered subway station beneath City Hall Park, a location Mamdani said was chosen for its symbolism.

He described the station as “a testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, health, and the legacy of our city.”

Referring to the station’s opening in 1904 as one of the city’s original subway stops, Mamdani said that it represented a moment when New York “dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working people’s lives.”

Mamdani said that the ambition embodied by the station should guide his administration, noting that it “need not be a memory confined only to our past.”

The mayor was sworn in by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and was joined by his wife, Rama Duwaji, and close family members, including his mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father, academic Mahmood Mamdani. 

DOT veteran Mike Flynn to guide city's transit overhaul

Flynn previously worked at the Department of Transportation for nearly a decade, from 2005 to 2014.

He began as a project manager focused on pedestrian and bicycle programs and later rose to a director-level position.

Since leaving the agency, Flynn has worked in the private sector, joining engineering and consulting firm TYLin, where he currently serves as vice president and New York area sector manager.

Flynn praised the agency he is set to lead and its workforce.

“I know firsthand that New York City DOT has some of the most passionate, talented, and committed public servants in the country, if not the world,” Flynn said. “And they’re ready to think big and deliver big on our ambitious agenda.”

A significant portion of Flynn’s role is expected to focus on Mamdani’s transportation priorities, including proposals to make city buses free for all riders.

Transit advocacy group Riders Alliance welcomed the appointment, citing both Flynn’s background and the administration’s stated goals.

“A city that works for bus riders is a city that works for everyone,” Executive Director Betsy Plum said in a statement, adding that the organization would look to the administration to ensure accountability and reliability across the system.