Our streets are profoundly unequal.
Spatial Equity NYC shows how public space is used or made unusable.
Today, we've updated the tool — created with
@MITLCAU
— adding six new data layers + Senate & Assembly rankings.
See the data. Demand action.
➡️
Brooklyn Dem boss Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn is here saying she understands the need for safety, but also the need to keep traffic flowing and the economy going
Get ready for a $15 toll for driving in midtown and lower Manhattan. The state’s Traffic Mobility Review board will formally deliver its recommendations to the MTA later today. Here they are…
This is true: Converting asphalt into planted medians can reduce runoff by 80%.
When heavy rain overwhelms New York City’s sewer system, impermeable surfaces deliver sewage and street pollution into waterways.
We should absolutely be doing this!
Today we launch
#NYC25x25
, a challenge to New York City's next leaders to take back 25% of our street space from cars by 2025.
As we recover from the pandemic, we must create a more equitable, safe, & resilient city for generations to come.
Learn more:
In 2000, a bike rider sharing the road with the best-selling car — a Toyota Camry — would have 18 inches on either side of them.
A bike rider sharing the road with today's popular "car" — the Ford F-150 — would have just 4 inches.
Bigger cars = less space for the rest of us ⬇️
While the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers walk, use micromobility, or take transit, they get less than 25% of the space on our streets.
If NYC wants to reach its climate goals, achieve Vision Zero, or give people better ways to get around, our streets must change.
Can you imagine if we still had the Washington Square Park(ing Lot)?
65 years ago today, the city banned cars from the park in a pilot that later became permanent.
Parks are for people, not cars.
SO THE THING ABOUT BUILDING MORE ROADS OR MORE PARKING IS IT WILL ACTUALLY MAKE TRAFFIC WORSE BECAUSE WHEN YOU BUILD MORE ROADS OR PARKING IT MAKES IT EASIER TO DRIVE SO MORE PEOPLE WILL BUY CARS AND CHOOSE TO DRIVE AND THEN YOU JUST NEED TO BUILD MORE ROADS AND MORE PARKING WHIC
In some of New York City’s most flood-prone neighborhoods, increasing permeable infrastructure from the current level of 2% of land to just 5% of land could prevent flooding.
We can make our neighborhoods more resilient by replacing car space with green space.
More NYC households own a bike than a car, yet bike lanes make up less than 1% of our street space.
Millions rely on bus service, yet we dedicate less than 1% of our streets to buses.
96% of New Yorkers walk to and from transit, yet sidewalks make up just 22.7% of our streets.
When it comes to bike lanes, paint is not protection.
So when we found ourselves with too many pumpkins this Halloween, there was only one thing we could do...
A pedestrian struck by an SUV or pickup truck is 41% more likely to die than a pedestrian struck by a sedan at the same speed.
We need to reign in supersized vehicles.
New York City just received approval from the federal government to advance congestion pricing!
Congestion pricing will:
✅ Reduce crashes
✅ Deliver billions for transit upgrades
✅ Speed up buses
✅ Improve air quality
New York City’s buses are the slowest in the nation.
Congestion pricing can turn those buses into the most efficient way to get around the Big Apple.
With less cars, there’ll be fewer drivers blocking bus lanes and more space on the street to dedicate to new, exclusive lanes.
Citi Bike had nearly 130,000 daily riders in August — more than entire transit agencies in the US.
It's time to fund Citi Bike like every other transit agency and finally expand the system to every neighborhood in New York City.
🥇 Another New Citi Bike PR 🥇!
You did it again! In August, you all took over 4.07 million trips on Citi Bike, the most rides in one single month! 2.05 million of those were on ebikes.
Keep it up and let's see how many rides you take in September! 🍂
We are devastated to learn that Adam Uster — a longtime biker, community member, and TA member — was killed by a truck driver in Brooklyn.
We demand immediate action from our leaders to keep New Yorkers safe.
We’re committed to making Atlantic Avenue safer for pedestrians. This week,
@NYC_DOT
Brooklyn Commissioner Bray and office of
@BKBPReynoso
joined us for a walk down Atlantic to discuss safety concerns and identify solutions.
Reminder: In 45/51 council districts, more people commute by biking, walking, or using transit than driving.
Congestion pricing will make our transit system more reliable and accessible for all New Yorkers.
By installing bioswales and green space in place of parking spots, we will reduce flooding and absorb stormwater.
One bioswale can manage between 1,100 and 2,200 gallons of water during a storm.
This
@NACTO
graphic shows what this could look like:
We hear it all the time…
“So many people speed on my street. We need a speed hump.”
But there are actually better ways to slow down traffic!
For hump day 🫣, a better-than-a-speed-hump 🧵...
Any solution to tonight's flash flooding that doesn't significantly reclaim and repurpose the space that NYC gives away to cars is not actually a solution.
That's our message to New York's leaders tonight.
New York City will no longer be limiting the number of Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare cars on the road — as long as the new cars are electric.
Any would-be rideshare driver with an electric vehicle can apply for a TLC plate starting Thursday.
Parks are for people — not cars. We used to allow thousands of cars in Central Park.
After decades of advocacy, we reclaimed the parks for people.
Where should be car-free next?
CITYWIDE CALL TO ACTION:
RECLAIM
#deBlasiosStreets
FROM CARS.
TOMORROW: 5:30PM. UNION SQUARE NORTH.
Join in community after weekend of carnage and preventable death of 3-month-old.
No more statements. We demand IMMEDIATE ACTION NOW to restore the promise of
#VisionZero
.
For the first time, we have a full year of serious injury data for NYC.
These are the most serious injuries: Loss of limbs, loss of organs, hospitalizations of 90+ days, and fatalities.
In 2022, there were 2,933 serious injuries total.
We must do more to keep people safe.
A driver with 160 traffic violations. A three-month-old is dead. Their mother is critically injured.
We are furious and heartbroken. Six people killed this weekend on NYC streets.
We need immediate action from
@NYCMayor
to save lives.
Our statement:
Today, we are devastated to learn that another New Yorker on a bike was killed by a truck driver. This is the third cyclist killed in eleven days, and the 18th cyclist killed in 2023.
A bike-lane moved 2.5X as many people as a regular traffic lane in a
@TFL
study, & given that they are half the width, the study concluded that bike-lanes are 5X as efficient as vehicle traffic lanes. HT
@urbanthoughts11
. Mobility in cities is about space.
We are furious to hear that the driver of an NYPD tow truck struck and killed a 7-year-old boy.
No parent should have to bury their child and this devastating crash robbed this boy of the future he deserved.
Nine children have been killed in traffic violence this year.
Congestion pricing will make our streets safer.
➡️ One study estimates that it will reduce pedestrian injuries up to 20% in Manhattan.
➡️ Crashes dropped 35% in London’s zone. Areas outside the zone saw additional reductions.
➡️ Crashes dropped 21% in Milan.
A single lane can move just 1,600 people per hour in cars.
A two-way protected bike lane? 7,500 people/hour.
A car-free bus lane? 8,000 people/hour.
A sidewalk? 9,000 people/hour.
A car-free busway? 25,000 people/hour in each direction.
The solutions to gridlock are obvious.
Congestion pricing will do the impossible: It will make New York City bigger overnight.
We have the opportunity to transform our once-gridlocked streets into spaces that serve all New Yorkers.
Today, we're outlining 15 easy steps.
➡️
We are angry. Really angry. On a day where we should be celebrating the success of Open Streets, instead we're mourning the loss of another New Yorker killed by preventable traffic violence.
(1/4)
Citi Bike moves more people each day than the entirety of many transit agencies, yet it doesn't receive any public funding.
It's time to properly fund bike share and:
✔️ Bring Citi Bike to every neighborhood in all five boroughs
✔️ Ensure the system is affordable to all riders
HUGE.
"Cities might soon get federal money to tear down inner-city highways that federal dollars built in the first place — and use that money to reinvest in communities of color that those highways destroyed."
🏃♀️ Blocked crosswalk steeplechase
🚍 Race walking the bus
🗑️ Trash pile pole vault
You shouldn’t have to be an Olympian to get around New York.
Join TA and demand our leaders give streets back to people.
➡️
🏅
#NYC25x25
Breaking News: Congestion pricing in New York City cleared its final federal hurdle, all but ensuring that the first program in the U.S. will begin next year, in an effort to reduce traffic and pollution in Manhattan and fund improvements to mass transit.
SUV drivers killed four New Yorkers — including a 7-year-old girl in Astoria as she crossed the street — this weekend.
@NYCMayor
can and must take action today to protect pedestrians by requiring
@NYC_DOT
to daylight ALL intersections.
Here's what daylighting does:
New York’s MTA is suspending new construction contracts as lawsuits against a congestion pricing plan threaten the agency’s ability to pay for needed infrastructure upgrades
Our streets — which are impervious to water & are 75% of our public space — make us more vulnerable on days like today.
This weather endangers New Yorkers, destroys homes & cripples our subway.
We need to expand proven tools to protect us: New bioswales, trees, green space.
More than 75% of NYC's space is devoted to driving and free storage for cars — even though a minority of New Yorkers own a car, fewer than 25% drive to work, and the vast majority of us walk, bike, and take transit.
Is this the best use of our streets? We say no.
"Through infrastructure changes, you can build a happier and more connected community."
All the way from Emeryville, CA, Mayor
@JohnBauters
joined us yesterday to explore some
#bikenyc
highlights.
Come along for the ride!
More road space and car traffic make heat worse.
We went to Canal Street to see just how much worse it can be.
As extreme heat becomes more common, we need to act now to reduce its impact by increasing greenspace and taking away space from cars.
If restaurants will have to pay fees to use public space for their structures, the logical next question is whether the city will begin metering all on-street parking for drivers who store their private vehicles at the curb.
Under guidelines being drafted, outdoor dining structures must be easy to disassemble, moveable to allow snow removal and utility work, and not be enclosed. Restaurants will also have to pay fees to use public space for the structures.
The Lincoln Tunnel needs an express bus lane in *each* direction, operating 24/7.
A typical traffic lane carries about 3,000 people in 2,000 cars each hour, but an express bus lane can carry over 30,000 people in 700 buses during that same time period.
It's a no-brainer.
Pedestrians make up 64% of all people using Canal Street, yet we give cars and trucks the majority of the street space.
This car-centric design makes Canal Street one of Lower Manhattan's most congested and dangerous streets.
Let’s fix that. Watch our new video:
It's simple: We need more protected bike lanes (and the city is *required* to build them)
In NYC, converting car lanes to protected bike lanes caused ridership to skyrocket while reducing injurious crashes by 17%, pedestrian injuries by 22%, and all injuries by 20%.
1/ Streets for people are possible.
Check out Shovel-Ready
#NYC25x25
Streets, our new project visualizing more equitable, healthy, and safe streets in each of the five boroughs, created using the
@remix
planning platform by
@ridewithvia
.
➡️
An unnamed 35-year-old on a bicycle.
Raife Milligan, a 21-year-old NYU student.
Alissa Kolenovic, a 16-year-old walking to school.
Our crisis of traffic violence continues with no end in sight.
Six people have been killed on our streets in three days.
Vehicle traffic causes 80% of noise pollution in cities.
In parts of Manhattan, the average decibel level reading was like a vacuum cleaner, with peak readings 8x as loud, similar to a hand drill.
Nearly 40% of New Yorkers experience frequent noise pollution from traffic.
SUVs and trucks are getting much, much bigger.
To discourage these cars — and accurately price the damage they can cause — Washington, D.C. could introduce a new fee for cars heavier than 6,000 pounds.
It's time for New York to do the same.
We are devastated and angry to hear that an SUV driver struck and killed a 10-year-old girl today in South Williamsburg.
No parent should ever have to bury their child.
Speed safety cameras save lives — day and night.
Speeding tickets dropped 30% citywide, with greater reductions on stretches of these streets:
📉 -96% on Houston St, Manhattan
📉 -84% on Cropsey Ave, Brooklyn
📉 -83% on Union Tpke, Queens
📉 -68% on Bruckner Blvd, the Bronx
Absolutely GIDDY over watching bus after bus glide right past the congestion on the newly installed buslane on
#WashingtonBridge4People
! 🥰
#BetterBuses
Can’t wait for
@NYC_DOT
to start phase 2 of this project for 🚶🏾♀️🚲🧑🏻🦽
When you drive drunk, we put a device in your car that prevents you from doing that again.
When you speed, repeatedly, we should use similar technology to stop that.
Bigger, taller vehicles are more lethal. Taller front-ends increase likelihood of head or chest impact and of falling under the vehicle instead of on the hood.
We need to rein in out-of-control vehicle sizes.
Great news: Bike ridership continues to set records in New York City.
New York City leaders must capitalize on this progress by building a network of fully-protected bike lanes.
We're reimagining
#NYCStreets
. We recently completed this Raised Crosswalk on Jamaica Ave and 170th St in
#Queens
that encourages motorists to yield to pedestrians and creates safer and more accessible crossings
We are devastated to share that Sammy’s Law did not advance out of the Assembly.
Sammy's Law passed the Senate and was approved by the City Council with overwhelming majorities.
We know Sammy's Law would have passed if it was brought for a vote.
This
#EarthDay
, let’s not obsess over the potential of electric cars.
This
#EarthDay
, let’s focus on the potential of truly transforming our streets.
#NYC25x25
This Earth Day 🌎 we'd like to remind you that the technology and infrastructure to move millions of people with low to no emissions already exists. It's literally not rocket science.
These two streets shouldn't have the same speed limit. But Albany, not New Yorkers, control our speed limits.
72% of NYC voters agree, we should control our speed limits.
NYC has 3 million free parking spots.
By using less than 0.5% of them for outdoor dining, we grew small businesses, saved 100,000 jobs, and gave New Yorkers more options.
Tell
@NYCMayor
+
@NYCCouncil
: We need a permanent, year-round program.
➡️
It's 10 pm on Friday. In accordance with state law, every speed safety camera in NYC just shut off and will remain off for the next 56 hours.
You should walk and bike like speeding is legal now, because it essentially is.
#SpeedingDoesntSleep
For every 1% expansion of asphalt and concrete surfaces, annual flood risk increases over 3%.
Low-income, non-white, and disabled New Yorkers are more vulnerable to the effects of extreme flooding.
Traffic violence is one of the leading causes of injurious death for children in New York City, and we need solutions.
Congestion pricing will bring better transportation, cleaner air, and safer streets — benefiting students and teachers across the region.
Today, our union, along with teachers who work at schools in Manhattan and the Bronx as well as Staten Island Borough President
@SIBPVito
, filed a federal lawsuit asking the court to halt the implementation of congestion pricing in Manhattan.
This is a bad bill that won't make our streets safer.
Instead, this will take resources away from DOT that could have been spent building safe streets — a *proven* way to protect New Yorkers.
We need to encourage people to choose sustainable transportation, not make it harder.
Council Member
@BobHoldenNY
has a bill that would require all pedal-assist e-bikes to be registered, a bill that would reduce cycling yet do nothing about illegal mopeds. What do you think?
Congestion pricing will make it easier for people with disabilities to get around New York City.
✅ New funding for transit accessibility projects
✅ Less congestion for Access-A-Ride riders
✅ Cleaner air to breath
Governor Hochul wants Sammy's Law.
Mayor Adams wants Sammy's Law.
The NYC Council wants Sammy's Law.
NYC DOT wants Sammy's Law.
The State Senate passed Sammy's Law.
A majority of NYC assemblymembers co-sponsored Sammy's Law.
Speaker Heastie, what will it take?
This is huge news!
Congestion pricing will bring cleaner air, safer streets, and faster commutes – if we take steps now to ensure the program is a success.
More evidence that removing travel lanes doesn't affect traffic flow.
Converting car lanes into bus & bike lanes on 1st + 2nd Aves in Manhattan decreased traffic injuries 21% & cycling rates to rise up to 177% — all while traffic speed stayed constant.
Make McGuinness safe!
Activists opposed to the McGuinness redesign have instituted an impromptu road diet by parking their cars in the outer lane. Traffic is still moving nevertheless
We are heartbroken & outraged.
A 70-year-old woman was killed on a block between a park and pedestrian-dense shopping district that should be car-free.
Cities around the world are banning cars from spaces like this, making them wholly safe for pedestrians.
NYC is not.
"Should millions of NYC mass transit riders throw years of planning in the garbage & lose out on billions of dollars in improvements to their commutes because a tiny percentage of workers choose to drive into Lower Manhattan?"
(Spoiler alert: No)
More people ride the G each day than use the BQE.
During this maintenance work, the city must provide high-quality, reliable service for G train riders.
Seven years ago, NYC's 25 mph speed limit became law.
This change saved lives.
Traffic fatalities fell 22% and pedestrian fatalities fell 25%.
Now it's time to finally give NYC the power to set safer speed limits, without having to ask Albany.