transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Back in 2015, a local tragedy hit Ravi Bhalla hard.

Speaker 2:
[00:04] A senior woman was crossing Washington Street and was struck and killed by a motorist. Attending her funeral and observing the shock of that experience, it made me think, is there something that we can do in Hoboken that could have prevented that death?

Speaker 1:
[00:24] It was a question he kept turning over and over in his head. At the time, he had two little kids, and like every parent, he wanted to live in a place where they could cross the street without fearing for their lives. And so he used his position as a city council member to call for change.

Speaker 2:
[00:40] What we are doing at the local level and local government with our streets and roads can actually be a matter of life and death.

Speaker 1:
[00:48] Every day, more than 100 people die on American roads. That's 40,000 lives lost each year. And an additional 2.5 million people are seriously injured. That's not just people in cars. In 2024, drivers struck and killed more than 7,000 pedestrians in the United States and more than 1,000 cyclists. They are shocking statistics. And let's be clear, America's safety record is dramatically worse than every other high income nation in the world. But as former transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg has pointed out, it barely causes a stir.

Speaker 3:
[01:25] This country has become used to roadway deaths. We act and think sometimes as if it were inevitable, as if we were all living in a country at war for as long as we can remember.

Speaker 1:
[01:36] Of course, it's not inevitable. Across the country, more than 60 cities and towns have committed to a program called VisionZero, a multi-faceted strategy designed to take roadway deaths down to zero. The effort has had mixed results in the US. But in Hoboken, New Jersey, it's been wildly successful.

Speaker 4:
[01:56] Tonight, we've found a community in New Jersey that's been working toward a solution and finding success. City of Hoboken says it's been seven years since it's had a traffic fatality. So what are they doing right?

Speaker 1:
[02:07] Those seven years of zero fatalities have now stretched to almost a decade. And not a single person died on Hoboken's streets while Ravi Bhalla was mayor.

Speaker 2:
[02:22] I am Ravi Bhalla. I'm a member of the New Jersey State Assembly, and I'm also the former mayor of the city of Hoboken.

Speaker 1:
[02:30] Assemblyman Bhalla didn't grow up in Hoboken, but he's lived in the city for almost 30 years. So he knows how dangerous the city streets have been for pedestrians and cyclists over the years, especially Washington Street.

Speaker 2:
[02:46] It was not as safe to get from one side of the street to the other. Cars were driving at a higher rate of speed. As a cyclist, there were really no means to get from one place to another on the road.

Speaker 1:
[03:01] Washington Street is kind of the heartbeat of Hoboken. It's lined with shops and restaurants, all housed in these charming 19th century brick buildings. But for a long time, crossing the street there was dicey.

Speaker 5:
[03:13] A busy three-block stretch of Hoboken turning into chaos just before three this afternoon. Witnesses say right after the intersection at Washington, the driver continues on first, but then goes up on the sidewalk.

Speaker 1:
[03:27] As mayor, Bhalla made street safety a centerpiece of his agenda. He oversaw the installation of bike lanes and bump outs, essentially curb extensions, on Washington Street. He increased what's called daylighting, which is removing parking spots and other barriers near intersections to give everyone a better line of sight. And he lowered the speed limit to 20 miles per hour citywide. He also launched a controversial pilot program that photographs license plates in an effort to reduce traffic violations.

Speaker 2:
[03:57] The implementation is not a single solution. It's a whole list of solutions, whether it's automated traffic enforcement, whether it's bump outs, whether it's protected bike lanes. All of these things will get you data that will demonstrate that what you're doing is working and creating a safer environment for pedestrians, motorists and cyclists.

Speaker 1:
[04:27] I'm Andrei Greenawalt. I'm the Chief Policy Officer at VIA. And this is ModeShift, a show about the past, present and future of how we move. In this episode, we learn how Hoboken, New Jersey, has become the first major city in the country to have zero traffic fatalities for almost a decade. We talk with former Mayor Ravi Bhalla about the particulars of the plan, the points of friction and how he plans to pursue street safety as a member of the state assembly.

Speaker 2:
[04:56] Through the VisionZero program, we've reduced both traffic fatalities to zero now, but also serious injuries have gone down by 78%. We seek to have zero traffic fatalities and zero serious injuries by 2030.

Speaker 1:
[05:21] Ravi Bhalla grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, a sleeper city just 13 miles from New York. When he moved to Hoboken across the river from Manhattan in 2000, he fell in love with it immediately. But from day one, he felt like something was missing.

Speaker 2:
[05:37] I had my daughter in a stroller, and pushing the stroller across Washington Street, that really meant literally pushing my daughter into the line of traffic to just identify whether I should cross the street.

Speaker 1:
[05:49] The city's streets didn't feel safe. And with a young family, how was it a potential deal breaker for Bhalla?

Speaker 2:
[05:55] We should have to make that choice between living in Hoboken or leaving, because local conditions were not sustainable for the long term, to make sure that people had a quality of life to make Hoboken more than just a transient city, but a place where you can really set roots and stay for the long term.

Speaker 1:
[06:20] But Bhalla did set down roots, and he tried to change things. In 2009, he won a seat on the city council, where he focused on affordable housing, lowering taxes, and pushing back on what he called mismanagement of the city. What made you think you could win that race?

Speaker 2:
[06:38] I did not think I could win. I only had the thought that I should stop complaining on the sidelines, or get out.

Speaker 1:
[06:46] Bhalla stayed on city council until he joined a crowded race for mayor in 2017. He won that race too, running on a platform that included street safety. And on New Year's Day in 2018, he was sworn in as Hoboken's 39th mayor and its first seek mayor.

Speaker 6:
[07:03] Congratulations.

Speaker 7:
[07:06] It's not just a new year, it's the start of new leadership and a historic moment in the city of Hoboken.

Speaker 1:
[07:13] After settling into his new office at City Hall, Bhalla turned his attention to street safety. Hoboken has an incredibly dense population. Nearly 60,000 people live within the city's one square mile area. So prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists felt critical.

Speaker 2:
[07:29] We pride ourselves on being the most walkable city in the country. And there are multiple means of getting from one place to another. Hoboken being a square mile creates perfect opportunity to reduce the dependency on motor vehicles.

Speaker 1:
[07:46] As he came up with a plan for the city, he looked at the original VisionZero program in Sweden, which was formed nearly 30 years ago.

Speaker 3:
[07:56] Sweden rolled out its vision in 1997, when seven people per 100,000 died in traffic. In 10 years, Sweden cut its rate in half.

Speaker 1:
[08:06] Throughout the decades, VisionZero's core mission hasn't changed. To re-engineer roads to keep everyone safer.

Speaker 6:
[08:13] In VisionZero, we put the major, the first responsibility on the system designer. And of course, the road users still have a responsibility, but it goes back to the system designer.

Speaker 1:
[08:28] In 2019, the year after he took office, Bhalla established a VisionZero task force in Hoboken. One of its first orders of business, bringing together community stakeholders to discuss how to implement the program. Everyone came to the table. Police officers, firefighters, business owners, cyclists, but not everyone was on board.

Speaker 2:
[08:51] People say that I'm waging a war on cars. People were very upset about bike lines, for example. And at the end of the day, I had to communicate to people that I can't outlaw bikes. I can't outlaw walking. I can't outlaw cars. So ultimately, what we're going to have to do as a community is find a way for all of us to live together. And also in a way that's safe for everybody.

Speaker 1:
[09:17] And that's exactly what the city did. I sat down with the former mayor to learn about the VisionZero program, how he overcame the backlash and what he wants to tackle next. But first, I wanted to know what's so special about Hoboken. You know, your success has been so remarkable in Hoboken. I'm curious, like, how do you assess sort of like, what is different about what you did than what's happening in these other places where maybe there's this commitment, but not as much follow through?

Speaker 2:
[09:45] Yeah, no, that's a great question. It does take effort. It takes coordination. It takes some leadership. It takes some risk. You need to make sure that residents and bike advocate organizations who care about these issues are given a platform. And a voice in the conversation. Even still, you'll face resistance and opposition. But one thing that we've done to really sort of address that opposition is incremental change, number one, meaning not having large sweeping changes without sufficient community input. But in a lot of instances, implementing pilot programs for what we call high crash networks, where our data shows there's a higher likelihood of a conflict in a certain intersection. So we may implement a pilot program for six months for that portion of several blocks of a street. And then move forward once we've got what's called a proof of concept that this is actually a good thing. I'll give you another example with curb extensions or the bump outs. When we first introduced them on Washington Street, we've now had them on all four corners of all 17 intersections on Washington Street. On all four corners have these bump outs.

Speaker 1:
[11:15] So bump out, if I understand is when you effectively make the sidewalk corners of an intersection bigger so that they extend into the street more. What's the significance of those bump outs? Like what do they actually do?

Speaker 2:
[11:30] They narrow the crossing space or the roadway at the intersection. They are also a form of daylighting because they often eliminate a place for someone to park or would create a dangerous situation. Those were not received well conceptually, even by my colleagues at the city council at the time in the beginning when we proposed them for all 17 blocks of Washington Street. What we had to do is start just by one block, put a rain garden or a bike rack, curb extension, daylight the area, put in the curb extensions, the bump outs and the sky didn't fall. It's like the world didn't end when we did that. Not only was there not no major catastrophes, it was like very pleasant to cross there because you had signalization, you had advanced timing for pedestrians, you had the bump outs. The seniors liked it, the young people liked it. You didn't have to go far to cross the street. You went across the street. But even still, I think I was just elected at that time. Some of my former colleagues at the council were saying, you know, these bump outs, once you get to Washington Street where it's, you know, our wards, ward is a district where a council member represents, said you could do it downtown, but uptown, the wards were that where we represent, as council members, we don't want these bump outs. But as we kept on, block by block, going further and further uptown, up those 17 blocks, by the time we got to like 14th Street, those same council members who were asking me not to place a curb extension or bump out, were actually requesting them in different parts of their wards, because we established proof of concept that this is actually something that people like and is very popular. So, no silver bullet, definitely, but if you do things piece by piece, I think you get a more holistic approval of the approach.

Speaker 1:
[13:44] I'm just curious, did you get a lot of criticism for removing parking? I feel like that can be a bit of political kryptonite.

Speaker 2:
[13:51] You know, parking spaces, and I say parking spaces with air quotes, were parking spaces that were not legally permissible in the first place. There's a state law that prevented anyone from parking within 25 feet of an intersection. When people say that you're removing parking, you're not really removing parking because parking is not permitted in those areas to begin with. We actually increased parking in our Washington Street redesign on several blocks by converting or transforming certain blocks to what's called angled parking. We back in. Our priority is people, not cars. We're focused on people and safety, not the ability of a car to have a space to park, especially if it's in legal space.

Speaker 1:
[14:44] Having kids has definitely crystallized my concerns about street safety. I think my single greatest fear for them is walking outside our house. We have this dangerous intersection. I just worry about them getting hit by a car there. And I'm sure you thought a lot about kids and perhaps other vulnerable populations. And just curious if you took any steps to protect them.

Speaker 2:
[15:07] What we want to do in Hoboken is make sure that our most vulnerable populations are protected. We've set a city-wide speed limit of 20 miles an hour. We've actually made sure that in those vulnerable areas where there are higher populations of children coming to and from school or seniors, that's actually 15 miles an hour. So it really just sends a signal to people in those areas, especially with vulnerable populations, to just be very self-aware if you're a motorist, and obviously to really just slow down when you're in those areas of the city.

Speaker 1:
[15:45] I want to talk to you a little bit about the Clear Pilot program you launched. And for folks who don't know what the Clear program is, it's an enforcement program that involves taking automated photos of cars, that doing things like double parking or blocking bike lanes. And I don't think I'm breaking any news here by saying it's been a bit controversial in the city. How do you think about that balance between surveillance and safety?

Speaker 2:
[16:10] Yeah, so Clear is not a form of surveillance at all. All it does is capture a photographic image of a license plate. And that does not even trigger the issuance of a violation. Where violations occur, inappropriate sums can be issued. But also with the added layer of not relying exclusively on an image from a camera, but having a parking enforcement officer, a human being, actually reviewing the video image and confirming the presence of a violation prior to actually issuing a ticket. So it's a program that's been very, very effective in the city of Hoboken. You know, as soon as we announced the pilot, we immediately got substantial compliance. All of a sudden, there was no double parking, the bike lanes were clear, the loading zones were turning over, so trucks were not idling there for hours. People were not parking in bus lanes. So buses, when they pulled up to bus stops, they can actually pull up to the bus stop instead of parking in the middle of the street. And it even helps small businesses because they get a lot more turnover of loading and unloading of freight vehicles.

Speaker 1:
[17:45] I feel like there's sometimes a concern raised by local businesses when there are proposals for new bike lanes or other measures that might make it a bit harder to drive where they're worried that people won't drive there and shop. It's like you're effectively killing foot traffic and commercial activity. And I'm just curious, did that play out in Hoboken that way at all? Or what were the impacts on businesses?

Speaker 2:
[18:09] We have the opposite experience. We've had more foot traffic, more pedestrian activities, especially on Washington Street and on First Street, which are two of our main commercial corridors. Through dynamic pricing on Washington Street with our meters, we've had a lot of turnover of people who might be using cars for engaging with small businesses. But I think the combination of having the CLEAR program, VisionZero generally, and sending the message that Washington Street is open for business for everybody, and you can really enjoy the businesses, even if you don't own a car, because you can get to them either by bike or by walking, has had a net, I think, beneficial impact on our businesses on Washington Street.

Speaker 1:
[19:04] What would you say to someone who is looking at Hoboken and says, that's great, but Hoboken is not gigantic. It encompasses a bit over a square mile. Maybe these things work there. These things have no chance of working in my city. I'm kind of curious what advice you give to other mayors or what lessons you think they can draw.

Speaker 2:
[19:26] Use our city as a city lab, a case study. We're not a huge city, but we have very narrow streets, which create their own challenges for cyclists, for example. They create challenges for motorists as well. So although we're not huge, not being huge also creates its own sets of challenges. So look at what your challenges are, identify how they can be implemented, and understand that there's no silver bullet. There's going to be a whole menu of measures that need to be implemented.

Speaker 1:
[20:06] Just to shift gears a little bit, I wanted to talk to you about your new position in the state assembly. And in particular, I was curious, do you think there are any, or do you have any ideas for statewide measures that might advance safety on streets across all of New Jersey?

Speaker 2:
[20:21] You know, this is something that is a statewide problem. Some of the infrastructure in cities in New Jersey is antiquated. I see a need to reimagine our streets as being not for cars, but for people. And how do you make or reimagine your street in a shore town down the Jersey shore as being not for cars, but for bicyclists as well, or pedestrians and bicyclists? With my family and my personal capacity, I travel to different parts of New Jersey sometimes, and I often try to cross the street with my family and my wife and kids. And I say, hey, they could do this, they could do that, they could do that. This is wrong, that's wrong. I'm not an engineer, but my limited experience as a mayor, I've seen a lot of towns that are very popular towns, are very progressive otherwise, that have a lot of work to do. So I look forward to talking to my colleagues in the assembly, in the legislature, and also connecting with mayors throughout New Jersey to say, hey, I don't know if it's come up in your community, but there are improvements that you could make to make your city safer. There are ones that have political upside, if there's a concern on that end as well. So I definitely want to bring my experience to my colleagues in Trenton, and hopefully, they can bring that to other mayors in cities and communities where there is a lot of potential.

Speaker 1:
[22:07] Just curious where you see improving and expanding public transit fitting into this, and whether you see that as a key economic driver for both Hoboken and other communities across New Jersey.

Speaker 2:
[22:20] Public transit is very essential, especially to a city like Hoboken. Sixty percent of Hoboken residents rely on public transit to get to work, which is the highest percentage of any population in America that relies on public transit. There are things that might not be as pertinent to a city's VisionZero plans, such as access to ferry service to get to and from Manhattan, or the PATH train to get to and from Manhattan. That might not touch directly on VisionZero, but we definitely do feel that our bus service in Hoboken, which is very, very critical to getting people to and from New York City, thousands of people on a daily basis, every morning, every evening. It's very critical that they have adequate space to make sure that our residents can disembark onto mass transit in the form of buses in a manner that's safe. That is why, for example, this CLEAR program is so important because it's actually giving mass transit in the form of buses the ability to be in a bus lane. It allows the passengers to simply get off the bus and be on the street, not in the middle of the road. When they go into the middle of the street, a bicyclist doesn't know what to do because the bus is now blocking the bike lane and the bus is blocking the driving lane. So mass transit is integral to VisionZero because you've got to make sure that mass transit, really the city's got to make sure that the streets are engineered in a way that makes mass transit that positive for safe streets, not the other way around and that negative.

Speaker 1:
[24:18] Last question. What advice do you have for your successor in the mayor's office, Emily Jabbour, who took office in January of this year?

Speaker 2:
[24:28] You know, I would advise my successor to build upon the progress of the partnership that we've implemented together and to see our roads, imagine our streets and roads as being for everyone, not for motorists, not for cars, but really for anybody who wants to get from one place to another. Dream big, have a vision, be ambitious, and then understand that it will take cooperation, coordination and incremental change to actually achieve those ambitious goals. We've already set the foundation, we've already provided proof of concept, we've already aggregated data that shows that what we're doing is working. So, my advice would be to keep on building on that progress. Let's make sure that not just the areas we've improved, but the areas that still need improvement, become also places where people can all enjoy in Hoboken. That would be my advice for the next mayor.

Speaker 1:
[25:41] Mayor Bhalla, thank you so much. This has been a great conversation. I really appreciate your time.

Speaker 2:
[25:45] Well, thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure to be on. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:
[25:53] Ravi Bhalla represents District 32 in the New Jersey State Assembly. He served as mayor of Hoboken from 2018 to 2026. Mode Shift is produced by Latitude Media in partnership with VIA. The show is hosted by me, Andrei Greenawalt. The show is produced by Mack Savage Levinson, Anne Bailey and Stephen Lacy. Sean Marquand mixed the show and wrote our theme song. It's also produced by me, Andrei Greenawalt, Francis Cooperman and Karina Salin from VIA. And special thanks to Fred Dintenfass. You can listen to Mode Shift at ridewithvia.com or anywhere you get podcasts. Thanks for listening.