“Real New Yorkers Ride the Bus!”: Our statewide push for transportation equity

We have a transportation spending problem that has siphoned trillions in taxpayer dollars over decades while offering New Yorkers little in return when it comes to our access to fast, reliable transportation options. This is especially true for the many communities throughout the state where this ineffective transportation spending has essentially made car-ownership prerequisite to participation in society.

Recent and ongoing highway expansion projects in New York City total more than $5B in spending. To put this in perspective, the 3-station, 1.8 mile initial phase of the 2nd Avenue Subway line had a total project cost of $3B. While the subway has been endlessly dogged by complaints of cost overruns, we hear virtually nothing about the obvious waste of expanding highways only to invite additional traffic.

This wasteful spending does more than cheat New Yorkers out of true transportation freedom. As is the case throughout the country, entire communities had to be leveled to make way for these ever-expanding highways, leaving remaining families to deal with the generational negative health consequences associated with living near highway traffic.

What is NYFTE?

Because NYC is home to the vast majority of transit riders in the state, it’s easy for our organizing work with Albany lawmakers to strictly center NYC bus and subway riders. But building true rider power means organizing throughout New York and winning statewide policy to serve the millions of riders of the 5 boroughs and the millions more who deserve the same access to reliable transportation in their communities.

Last year, Riders Alliance joined New Yorkers for Transportation Equity, a new coalition of community organizations, planners, and advocates from throughout the state working to end wasteful highway spending and afford every New Yorker access to safe, reliable transportation options. Our work with NYFTE is the first time we’ve worked with a statewide coalition to win transit policy, which is a major step in cementing a strong legislative foothold for transit riders in Albany.

What we’ve been up to 

Last February, NYFTE launched in Albany to support the Get Around New York bill. This year, on Transit Equity Day, we went back to Albany to reaffirm our support with a rally alongside coalition partners and elected leaders and to meet with legislators to talk about how the GANY bill will help riders in their district.

As the legislative session continues through June, we’ll be meeting with legislators and taking direct action to educate voters and grow support. For now, you can email your representatives to support the bill on NYFTE’s website if you’d like to get involved.

The Get Around New York bill

The Get Around New York bill is a targeted solution to correct decades of wasteful highway spending by diverting funding away from building or expanding highways towards new investments in transit, cycling, pedestrian, and alternative transportation options throughout New York.

It accomplishes this by tying the approval of local and state transportation funding to whether or not a project will help reduce the number of cars on the road — measured by total vehicle miles traveled annually, or VMT — by 20% over the next 25 years.

Projects that do not pass a VMT assessment will need to be altered or include mitigations to comply with the law. These mitigations can include things like new or improved public transit service, pedestrian, cycling, and micromobility facilities, or even increases to local housing density to bring the project within the bounds of the law.

Wait, how does this relate to our existing funding?

Every year, states receive billions of dollars for transportation projects that can be spent in many different ways. Right now, many states, including New York, spend much of this money on highway projects. We’re working to shift how this discretionary transportation funding is spent.

While this wouldn’t replace the need for funding sources like congestion pricing and other dedicated taxes, making sure we’re using all available transportation funding on truly effective projects that will do more than just induce traffic congestion is a worthwhile step for us to take towards statewide transportation equity.

How you can help!

The Get Around New York bill is currently sponsored by Senator Gounardes and Assemblymember McMahon and we’re actively working to bring more co-sponsors on. You can email your legislators here and tell them to support it!