The Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief was founded to prove that public support for a bold traffic reduction plan exists in all corners of New York City.

We New Yorkers are more reliant on transit and walking than any other citizenry in the United States. In fact, only 2 of 10 New Yorkers even own a motor vehicle, and many just use their car on weekends. This is good, for bus riders and pedestrians make much more efficient use of our City’s limited street space than drivers.

Yet our streets are still designed to accommodate, not limit traffic. Throughout the five boroughs, valuable street space that could be used for exclusive bus lanes and wider sidewalks is instead given over to cars. And while the supermajority of non-driving New Yorkers pay the price of bad air, dangerous intersections, and a low quality of life, a minority of drivers get free parking and unfettered access to our neighborhood streets. This is unjust and unwise and it must change.

Our city officials increasingly recognize the "Lessons from London," and see the advantages of reducing driving and favoring more efficient, quieter and cleaner forms of transportation. Proposals for sidewalk widening, bicycle lanes, exclusive bus lanes, parking reform, traffic calming and congestion pricing, however, have either been implemented slowly or not at all.
 

This failure to act stems from concern about how motorists and the city as a whole would be affected by steps to reduce automobile use and traffic, and concerns about the extent to which drivers possess viable transit alternatives. As evidence mounts that these concerns are unfounded, there remains one obstacle to traffic relief: the perception that the public does not adequately support bold measures to reduce the number of cars and trucks on our streets.

The Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief was founded to prove that New Yorkers overwhelmingly support traffic reform.

For far too long, we the citizens and businesses of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island have suffered under New York's "nightmare" traffic and its congestion, noise, danger and pollution.

For our children and for our health, economic productivity and quality of life, we need relief.

This is not an impossible task. Today there are modern and effective methods to reduce traffic and lessen its impact on our daily lives. This is our Charter for NYC Traffic Relief - five ways to a cleaner, quieter, and more livable city.

Site Design by Miha Matei
Comments or problems, e-mail
webmaster@transalt.org