Issues

Transportation Alternatives is fighting to give New Yorkers a variety of safe and convenient ways to get around. Biking, walking, and riding the bus should be as safe, accessible, and efficient as driving a car or taking the train. When our streets work for every type of transportation, New Yorkers have the freedom to choose how they get around. And when our government can effectively plan, build, and manage our streets, New Yorkers’ lives get better. 

We believe that the greatest city in the world should have the greatest streets in the world.

Here is our seven-point plan to give you more safe, accessible, and efficient transportation choices:

  • Reclaim Streets as Public Space 

  • Create Safe Intersections

  • Build a High-Quality Bike Network for All Ages & Abilities

  • Make Bus Service Frequent & Reliable 

  • Make E-Bikes and Bike Share Safe & Accessible

  • Fight Highway Expansions and Transform Existing Highways

  • Regulate Vehicle Use and Safety

New Yorkers have places to go and want the freedom to choose how to get where they’re going. Whether we are biking to the coffee shop, taking the bus to work, walking to lunch, or taking a taxi home at night, we want to choose the mode of transportation that makes the most sense for that trip.

Too often, however, our choices are limited – the bus is slow, the crosswalk is dangerous, the bike lane doesn’t exist, and the taxi is stuck in traffic – because more than 75% of our street space is used for moving and storing cars, even though most New Yorkers don’t own one. 

Our streets simply do not prioritize the majority of New Yorkers. As a result, our streets do not work for anyone, whether we’re driving, walking, biking, or waiting for the bus.

It does not have to be this way. By prioritizing the most efficient modes of transportation — whether that is a bike lane that can move thousands of people every hour or a bus that can transport 50 people in the same space as two cars — our streets can serve every New Yorker. 

Choose an issue below to learn how Transportation Alternatives is fighting to make streets work for everyone – and to give every New Yorker access to safe, efficient, and affordable transportation.

Featured
Regulate Vehicle Use and Safety

Vehicle safety is an essential component of a Safe Systems approach to making our roads safer for all users. More than 99% of all traffic fatalities involve a car or truck because of physics; cars and trucks are the largest, heaviest, and fastest objects on our streets, and therefore can cause the most harm.

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Create Safe Intersections

The intersection is the most dangerous part of the street. “Daylighting” makes intersections safer by removing the adjacent parking spaces, increasing visibility for everyone and transforming car storage into resources for the public benefit.

Read More →
Fight Highway Expansions and Transform Existing Highways

For decades, highways have isolated and divided Black, Latino, and low-income communities in New York City. Our highways have exposed countless New Yorkers to disproportionate levels of asthma, traffic violence, air and noise pollution, heat exposure, and left too many communities with a lack of access to green space, opportunity, and connection.

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Reclaim Streets as Public Space
Reclaim Streets as Public Space

All New Yorkers need more space – and our streets are our city’s largest resource. Opening up that space to people by pedestrianizing streets saves lives, improves physical and mental health and quality of life, reduces air pollution, and improves business revenue.

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Make Bus Service Frequent & Reliable
Make Bus Service Frequent & Reliable

Bus service is the most affordable and efficient way to quickly multiply the reach of a transportation network and provide a safe, affordable alternative to driving. Getting more people on buses and out of cars will make our streets less congested, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce childhood asthma rates, and even make our streets better for those who have to drive.

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Build a High-Quality Bike Network for All Ages & Abilities
Build a High-Quality Bike Network for All Ages & Abilities

Bicycling can improve public health, reduce pollution and congestion, grant freedom of movement, and expand access to opportunity at a low cost. But the number of people who choose to ride a bike – especially the number of women who choose to ride a bike – directly depends on access to safe protected bike lanes and greenways.

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Make E-Bikes and Bike Share Safe & Accessible

Electric micromobliity, such as e-bikes and e-scooters, can shift trips out of cars and make biking a viable transportation choice for elderly New Yorkers, people with mobility issues, parents who need to transport children, and delivery workers who spend long hours on the roads.

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Additional Priorities

Featured
Regulate Vehicle Use and Safety

Vehicle safety is an essential component of a Safe Systems approach to making our roads safer for all users. More than 99% of all traffic fatalities involve a car or truck because of physics; cars and trucks are the largest, heaviest, and fastest objects on our streets, and therefore can cause the most harm.

Create Safe Intersections

The intersection is the most dangerous part of the street. “Daylighting” makes intersections safer by removing the adjacent parking spaces, increasing visibility for everyone and transforming car storage into resources for the public benefit.

Fight Highway Expansions and Transform Existing Highways

For decades, highways have isolated and divided Black, Latino, and low-income communities in New York City. Our highways have exposed countless New Yorkers to disproportionate levels of asthma, traffic violence, air and noise pollution, heat exposure, and left too many communities with a lack of access to green space, opportunity, and connection.