Transportation News: New York City

In his State of the City Address, Mayor Bill De Blasio revealed his plan for improvements to New York City’s public transportation system, which included steps towards making the City’s buses run faster and expanding the NYC ferry service. Unfortunately, the MTA this month announced that the busway on 14th Street in Manhattan would not continue as originally planned. NYLCV believes that DOT should continue with the busway as originally proposed to accommodate the nights and weekend service changes.

Traffic is a notable problem in New York as mass transit is becoming riddled with delays, signal failures, and decades-old infrastructure. Congestion pricing would raise much-needed funding for long-term improvements to the region’s transit system, reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from cars, and decrease traffic congestion by encouraging the use of public transportation.

A new $1.25 million pilot program spearheaded by New York City Council Member Rafael Espinal will put electric school buses on the road in NYC, an effort NYLCV has supported. In addition, the City Council Environmental Protection Committee recently held a hearing on Council Member Danny Dromm’s bill, Intro. 455, to speed up the transition to cleaner school buses.

Congestion pricing can be much more than just a subway-fixing fund. It could also enable the electrification of the city’s entire bus fleet – a move that would save fuel costs, reduce the city’s carbon emissions and improve air quality for millions of New Yorkers that live, work and learn along the city’s maze of bus routes.

This past week, the New York City Department of Sanitation unveiled its much-anticipated plan to reform the inefficient way that garbage generated by businesses and large private institutions is currently collected by dividing the city into commercial waste zones. The new plan is a significant step forward in reducing truck congestion and addressing the amount of waste in our landfills.

The tunnels under the Hudson River, which are over 100 years old, are deteriorating and face the risk of closing permanently. Luckily, there is a solution: the Gateway Tunnel project. Recently, a coalition of civic, labor and business leaders, including NYLCV, formed the Build Gateway Now Coalition to advocate for and spread awareness of the importance of this project.

Governor Cuomo and DEC announced that the settlement funds will be invested in clean transportation including earmarking 40% for buses - a successful step forward in our Clean Buses for Healthy Niños advocacy campaign. DEC will prioritize these emissions reduction projects in environmental justice communities that have traditionally been overburdened by pollution, which leads to higher rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.