Transportation Alternatives is New York City's leading transportation advocacy organization, with a citywide network of tens of thousands of supporters committed to better bicycling, walking and public transit in the five boroughs. Our mission is to reclaim New York City's streets from the automobile, and to advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives. Every day, all over the city, we're working to revitalize New York City’s neighborhoods and restore a vibrant culture of street life.

Transportation Alternatives is involved in every aspect of traveling around New York City. From bike routes and bus lanes to pedestrian crossings and car parking, we’re fighting for safer, smarter transportation and a healthier city. When Transportation Alternatives was founded in 1973, New York City’s cycling population was a fifth of what it is now and the number of pedestrians killed each year by cars was more than twice as high. Since then, we’ve been laying the paving stones of a safer city – pedestrian plazas, parking-protected bike lanes, the very philosophy of the livable street – and pushing city agencies and elected officials to introduce this innovation into the urban landscape. We see New York City as a web of streets and green spaces that viewed as a whole, are the foundation of a city with a greater quality of life. With the help of our network of tens of thousands of supporters, T.A. makes the streets of New York City better, and mile by mile, acre upon acre, we are shaping an unsurpassed urban landscape and envisioning a brighter way to travel.

Bicycling
With flat avenues and a compact grid, New York City was a brilliant place to bicycle even before T.A. rolled onto the scene. These days, because of our persistence and introduction of better ideas for biking from around the world, all the cycling potential of that compact grid is blossoming into hundreds of miles of new bike lanes and acres of innovative street designs. Biking is what we do. We want to get you on a bike, take you on a ride and build you the safest route to wherever you want to go.

Traffic Safety and Enforcement
A bike lane is of little use with a car parked in it, and sidewalks are only as safe as the crosswalks that connect them. That’s why our members and volunteers work with local police precincts to make individual community streets safe to travel, and why we fight for those small changes to become policy citywide. We study what make streets most dangerous and fight for laws that protect the lives of cyclists and pedestrians. We’re your liaison to the people in charge of New York’s street safety ¬¬-- when you feel in danger walking and biking, T.A. is your direct line to the problem solvers.

Streets for All
The ideal urban streetscape has one major criterion: anyone can get around. Crosswalks should be accessible and intersections navigable -- the most perfect street we can imagine is one in which a child can safely play and regularly has the space to do so. With streets and sidewalks 80% of New York City’s public space, Transportation Alternatives works with individual communities to make those spaces and local streets safe for all and push for multi-modal use to be adopted as policy citywide. T.A. is working for your community to be as welcoming as a playground and winning the changes that make your trip to the store a walk in the park.

Public Transit
Transportation Alternatives believes in a city where most people can live without owning an automobile; in fact, New York has the country’s lowest car ownership rates and more people use public transit here each day than the rest of the country combined. But subway fares are on the rise and buses can travel slower than walking speed, parking is a pain and everyone is in a rush. T.A. wants New York City to strike a smarter balance for all road users; one that mandates only a minimum of automobile traffic is necessary, encourages the public health benefits of biking and walking, and invests in the efficiency of public transit.

A message from Transportation Alternatives’ executive director Paul Steely White:

Transportation Alternatives is supported by thousands of members. Join the movement for a better New York City by becoming a member today.

Transportation Alternatives volunteers are the energy behind a rapidly shifting New York City. Learn how you can make New York City a better place to move through.

Transportation Alternatives is a 501(c)(3) organization. To learn more about who we are and what we’ve won, check out our annual report.

We need your help to make a difference.

Become a member or donate today.