New Yorkers Are Driving More, Even as Climate Plan Hinges on Driving Less

The new data comes as New York’s climate plan prescribes a sharp decrease in overall driving in order to meet legally binding emissions targets. Transportation is the state’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for just over a quarter of New York’s climate pollution as of 2021. The state’s 2022 climate plan aims to cut those emissions by nearly a third over this decade — by moving toward electric vehicles, but also through “historic investments” to reduce dependence on cars.

The state’s single biggest policy to achieve that goal, congestion pricing in downtown Manhattan, is still in limbo after Governor Kathy Hochul “indefinitely paused” it in June.

Traffic engineer Sam Schwartz, who helped popularize the term “gridlock” while serving as New York City’s traffic commissioner in the 1980s, was not surprised by the report’s findings.

“Across the country, we’re seeing fewer people taking public transportation and more people taking cars,” Schwartz said. “We probably will eclipse the record [for vehicle miles traveled] in the United States.” (He was not involved with StreetLight’s research.)

Schwartz said the pandemic-driven rise of personal cars, decline in transit and carpooling, and boom in e-commerce have all contributed, as has people’s reliance on rideshare apps. The effects have been especially pronounced in New York City, he said: “We’re moving slower than we’ve probably moved since the introduction of the horse as a form of transportation.”

The governor’s office, when asked about the report’s findings, pointed to Hochul’s track record of funding transit, including $7.9 billion allocated to transit systems across the state in this year’s budget.

“After saving the MTA from the ‘fiscal cliff’ in last year’s budget and overseeing the largest investment in MTA history, Governor Hochul remains committed to funding the MTA Capital Plan, and she is working with partners in government on funding mechanisms while congestion pricing is paused,” spokesperson John Lindsay said in an email.

He did not answer questions about whether Hochul wants to reduce driving overall, as the climate plan says is necessary.

Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, said the trends on display in StreetLight’s latest report mark a worrying departure from the standards that have made New York City one of the most climate-friendly cities in the country.

“For years, New York’s economy was growing on the backs of the transit system,” she said. “If we’re starting to see trends like this, it means that we’ve moved away from the sustainable growth model and have reverted back to a model that’s over-reliant on cars.”

With the increase in driving have come more deadly crashes. Statewide, deaths on the road climbed from 938 in 2019 to 1,100 last year, according to an official database, reversing a decline seen over the previous five years.

A bill pending in the state legislature would require New York to reduce vehicle miles traveled by one-fifth by 2050. The clean energy research group RMI found that the measure could cut emissions by close to 9 million tons per year. It could also prevent close to 600 crash deaths per year, and save even more lives by promoting active modes of transportation like walking and biking, the group found. (The bill did not make it out of committee during this year’s legislative session.)