Power Players in Transportation

Inspired by his father’s activism in SEIU healthcare locals, Manny has dedicated his life to labor. Recognized for his expertise at the bargaining table, he’s helped bring thousands of members into 32BJ. Leading research for “Justice for Janitors” in the 1990s, he’s since been integral to successfully organizing security officers and airport workers into 32BJ. As the new president, Manny is excited to expand the union’s fight into fast food, gig work, and hospital pricing.

Betsy is the executive director of Riders Alliance. Before joining Riders Alliance, she was vice president of policy for the NY Immigration Coalition where she led multiple winning campaigns and helped set the vision for a more inclusive NY. She joined Riders Alliance in 2020 bringing her commitment to build a stronger, more thriving NY and a belief that we arrive at this place by investing in our public systems and holding those in power accountable.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
I chose a career pursuing social justice and am proud to do that work by fighting for the public transit system that New Yorkers deserve. Transit should be reliable; transit should be affordable; transit should be accessible. A world-class public transit system would be all of these things and allow every New Yorker, no matter your age or ability, to have equal access to everything the best city in the world has to offer.

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
An NYC Mayor truly prioritizing bus riders! NYC has the most bus riders in the country but the slowest buses. Unlike most of our global peers, we continue to put buses last on our streets and keep 2 million+ New Yorkers stuck in traffic. Giving bus riders priority isn’t hard, it isn’t expensive, and it’s good for entire communities. (Fun Fact: most New Yorkers get where they need to go by transit, foot, or bike!)

What is your preferred method of transportation?
Public transit! A trip that might take two hours at rush hour in a car can be accomplished in a fraction of that time on the subway. Rather than be frustrated with traffic, you experience the incredible diversity of New York.

Ken is the president and CEO of Bike New York. From 2019 until November 2023 he served as the chair of the League of American Bicyclists. Prior to joining Bike NY in 2010, Ken spent his career working for the City of New York, first as an urban planner and later as the NYC sports commissioner, a position he held for 12 years. Ken received his M.S. in architecture, planning, and development from Columbia University. 

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
I wanted to be part of this growing movement to create a more livable, vibrant, and safer city through better bike infrastructure and more people riding. I appreciate how cyclists experience the city with greater social interaction, deeper intimacy, and more connected community engagement, as they can easily stop, interact, and explore their surroundings. Bicycles are a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and highly accessible mode of transportation for people of all ages, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

What is your favorite travel experience?
It was on a recent trip with my family to Copenhagen, the most bike-friendly place on earth, that I got to experience this cyclists’ paradise. I was overwhelmed by the quality and amount of bike superhighways, wide curb-separated bike lanes, bike parking, and even bike-only bridges across its canals. They even have “green waves,” which are intelligent traffic signals that are timed so that cyclists riding at 12 mph never miss a green light!

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
As traffic deaths surge nationally and Vision Zero plans are underperforming, there is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to save a significant number of lives by reducing the speed of motor vehicles. I’d like to see all vehicles in the United States equipped with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), which uses geolocation technology that makes it impossible for motor vehicle drivers to speed. I’m encouraged by the City’s successful ISA pilot program for city-owned vehicles.

What is your preferred method of transportation?
When I worked for the City of New York, I traveled in a city-owned vehicle for 16 consecutive years. This changed when I began working for Bike New York and started riding my bike to and from work and then on weekends. Incorporating cycling into my life made me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthier and much more connected to people and the places I ride through. Life is more fun on two wheels!

Frank Reig is CEO and co-founder of Revel, the Brooklyn-based electric mobility and infrastructure company. Since founding the company alongside COO Paul Suhey in 2018, Frank has grown Revel from shared electric mopeds to launching New York’s first all-electric, all-employee rideshare service and the city’s largest public fast charging network. A lifelong New Yorker, Frank grew up on Staten Island and is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
New Yorkers move fast. How we get around, how we move people and goods, feeds into every other aspect that makes New York great. Transportation is really the basis for how a city functions, that’s always been interesting to me. We’re also at this pivot point with electrification, new technology like EVs, fast charging, bigger and better batteries. Using that to make ridesharing more comfortable, efficient and cleaner, how could I not pursue that?

What is your favorite travel experience?
One of the most important trips of my life was visiting Buenos Aires in 2017. Buenos Aires is a moped city. Everybody uses them, they make getting around fun and easy. I had the lightbulb moment for Revel there. Looking around I thought, “this place feels a lot like Brooklyn, why don’t we have mopeds too?” Within a year, we launched Revel’s initial moped pilot in Brooklyn. I’m proud we introduced that to New Yorkers.

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
Public EV infrastructure, especially fast charging that takes minutes, not hours. New Yorkers don’t have home garages to charge EVs overnight. We need public charging; today it’s seriously lacking. Revel is tripling access to public fast charging, prioritizing neighborhoods that have none like the South Bronx. New York will benefit a lot from EV adoption and eliminating deadly car exhaust. But there’s no way we can transition to EVs without reliable ways to power them.

What is your preferred method of transportation?
I love biking. I’m a big fan of micromobility in general. I’ll bike most days to work in Brooklyn, often I find it to be the most convenient way to get around if you’re not going too far and are traveling solo. And of course, it’s just really fun!

Pat Reilly has enjoyed a five-decade career in government and politics where she went from being a NYC bus driver’s daughter to being a NYS DMV deputy commissioner! She has worked at the NYS Senate, the NYC Council, various NYS Agencies and Nassau County, where she led the Traffic and Parking Violations Agency. She was also vice-chair of the Albany Airport Authority. She is now a government affairs consultant specializing in traffic safety.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
Governor Mario Cuomo offered me the position of assistant commissioner for regional affairs at the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles in 1987 and I found my true calling in the transportation field. My specialty was traffic safety – seat belt legislation, pedestrian safety and school bus safety – to name a few. In 1993, the Governor appointed me deputy commissioner for customer service, where we “Reinvented DMV”. It became a national model for excellence.

What is your favorite travel experience?
I love traveling to the towns of Cape Cod and Maine! My family lived in Massachusetts and Maine, so the journeys had special significance. Of particular note, were my visits to the US Coast Guard stations on the Cape. My mother and father were in the Coast Guard during World War II and were stationed in Falmouth. My parents later were married and moved to Manhattan – where my dad became an NYC bus driver!

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
I would like to see the AirTrain at LaGuardia become a reality. I must say how impressed I am with the LaGuardia reimagining! The work being done at JFK is incredible. Congestion pricing is a needed advancement- however controversial. Upstate needs resources to improve travel in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. Roads and bridges are particularly in need.

What is your preferred method of transportation?
Because I live in upstate New York, car travel is the necessary mode of transportation. I do enjoy taking Amtrak whenever I have the opportunity.

Growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the 90s Jason went through the NYC public school system graduating from Bushwick Leadership High School in 2002. Jason grew up in a single-parent household with his mother. At the age of 20, Jason had his first child pushing him to work harder. In 2003, Jason was hired by Allied Barton through the Downtown Alliance and joined the public safety team.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
During my 15-year tenure at the Downtown Alliance’s security department, I would be assigned to oversee certain transportation duties such as bus timing surveys, passenger count surveys and various other duties required by the Downtown Alliance’s Downtown Connection Bus Service. While performing these duties in 2016, I was offered the position of manager of the Downtown Connection Bus.

What is your favorite travel experience?
My favorite travel experience would be when my wife and I took a bus from Port Authority to Atlantic City for our 10-year anniversary. Noticing all the organized mayhem as buses were pulling in and out of the bus bays from seven floors under one roof intrigued me. Understanding the mayhem made me appreciate what I do and seeing the work on such a grand scale I told myself “I could do this”.

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
Some of the improvements I would like to see completed are all forms of surface transit to have low-floor buses for easier accessibility and safety for senior and ADA passengers, where the passenger rolls in and out of the bus as opposed to being lifted in the air by the wheelchair lift. Another transit improvement would be to see an upgrade in the street surface paving material to better support efficient traffic flow. 

What is your preferred method of transportation?
My preferred method of transportation would be buses. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I always traveled by bus to and from most of my destinations. While on my travels throughout NYC, I understood how vital the bus services were for everyone from the young kids traveling to school, the elderly getting their weekly groceries, and the hard-working parents who have to commute back and forth to work on a daily basis.

Jorge Roberts is the CEO of Avports (formerly Pan Am World Services), America’s most experienced airport operator and manager. His global airport management and public-private partnership (P3) development and investment career spans over 15 years working for global airport operators and investors. This experience includes leading the $100 million New Haven Airport P3 and co-originating the $9.5 billion JFK New Terminal One P3. He is also actively involved in ACI, AAAE, AMAC and Vaughn College.

Commissioner Rodriguez oversees more than 5,500 employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and a 10-year capital budget of $33 billion. He leads the Adams administration’s efforts to make our streets better and safer for all New Yorkers and to enhance the city’s public realm. A proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic, he’s the first Latino to serve as commissioner. Rodriguez previously served on the City Council, chairing the Transportation Committee from 2014 to 2021.

Caroline joined Lyft in 2018 to start the company’s new micromobility policy program where she currently serves as vice president of transit and micromobility public policy. Prior to Lyft, Caroline spent 12 years as deputy director of Transportation Alternatives in New York City. In 2013, in partnership with traffic violence victims, Caroline co-founded Families for Safe Streets, a grassroots, victim-led movement to eradicate reckless driving that now has chapters in cities across the United States.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
Transportation touches everyone. Cities are on the front lines of fighting climate change and rethinking how transportation plays a part in that fight. Shifting away from policies that favor single occupancy vehicle dependency has the potential to contribute tribute to safer and more equitable communities. This has kept me engaged and inspired in this work for my entire career.

What is your favorite travel experience?
Grabbing a bike and a local bike map to chart to wander. Favorite stops usually include local breweries and a climbing gym if possible.

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
It will be incredible when a network of connected, protected bike lanes are the norm in cities, especially here in the US where we are behind.

What is your preferred method of transportation?
Two wheels, preferably an e-bike. When I’m commuting with my twin seven-year-olds, our electric cargo bikes are the best!

Schienberg has been the president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association since 1986. Under his leadership, the association has grown in size and influence, and he is known for his passion for the automotive industry and education. He runs the New York International Automobile Show and has pioneered programs to improve consumer-dealer relations. Schienberg has raised millions of dollars for automotive education scholarships and has been recognized for his contributions to the industry.

Why did you pursue a career in transportation?
I have always been interested in cars, having owned a few fun sports cars in my younger days, but my interest in the auto industry came as part of a long-held passion for advocacy. In this case, hundreds of entrepreneurs whose dealerships support 65,000 jobs and are a $65B economic engine right here in metro New York. These entrepreneurs provide great jobs, salaries, and benefits to local people throughout the region.  

What is your favorite travel experience?
I’ve always been passionate about cycling as a leisure activity and one of my greatest and most unforgettable travel experiences was a cycling trip that I took in Vietnam a few years ago.

What transportation improvement would you like to see completed in the future?
The local franchised new car retailers that my Association represents are excited to provide new cars and trucks to whatever consumers demand whether gas, electric, or hydrogen. The biggest obstacle we see with electric vehicles is infrastructure. Dealers are already investing millions of dollars in charging stations and microgrids to play their part in helping the State.

What is your preferred method of transportation?
As a NYC resident, I’m a big fan of the subway, but the freedom and independence I get from driving my own car is second to none. I also commute daily from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Whitestone in Queens and back every day, which makes public transportation a decidedly complex proposition.