Streets We Can Afford: A Framework for the Next NYC Streets Plan
In a letter to the Department of Transportation, a dozen transit, environmental, disability rights, labor, and other organizations counseled robust metrics on bus riders, bicycle and pedestrian safety and accessibility, less parking and driving in the plan due December 1.
September 15, 2026
Commissioner Mike Flynn
NYC Department of Transportation
55 Water Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10041
Re: Streets We Can Afford: A Framework for the Next NYC Streets Plan
Dear Commissioner,
As you know, the landmark 2019 New York City Streets Plan law requires a new plan due later this year. The new plan is a fresh opportunity for the Department to deliver on Mayor Mamdani’s historic promises to confront the affordability crisis and deliver fast buses and public excellence and your commitment to make our streets the envy of the world.
New Yorkers need streets we can afford. A Streets Plan that prioritizes lower costs will save us time and money and give us freedom and peace of mind for ourselves, our kids and our parents. The next Streets Plan should cut transportation costs, help save on healthcare costs from air pollution and social isolation, and reduce childcare costs from supervising otherwise independent children on unsafe streets.
A good plan will save more families from car dependency, incorporate the elements of the “Next Stop” plan to make bus service fast, frequent, and reliable, and make cycling, walking, strolling and wheeling safe and effective ways to get around every neighborhood. As you finalize the plan, we urge you to adopt metrics tied to affordability, livability and the freedom to move.
While the law requires annual reporting on these benchmarks, we urge more frequent updates to the public that will help institutions within and beyond government accelerate progress toward these shared goals.
Existing conditions
Today, slow buses sap our time and lead too many to spring for a pricey cab ride. Buying or leasing, insuring, fueling, and maintaining a car has never been more expensive. Traffic crashes cost New Yorkers billions each year and toxic air pollution costs tens of billions in healthcare expenses, lost income and more.
The City budget reflects how much vehicles cost us and how little our streets earn in return. The massive City fleet is a major fiscal expense and fleet vehicles take up large amounts of scarce street, curb, and sidewalk space. Slow traffic costs the MTA hundreds of millions in inefficient bus service. Traffic congestion costs the city’s economy billions each year. And meanwhile, the City leaves billions of dollars more at the curb that could be captured from drivers and from delivery and rideshare companies.
Proposed metrics
I. Fast and Accessible Buses
As described in “Next Stop,” the City must build on the existing bus lane network, fixing high-ridership pinchpoints, strengthening bus priority corridors, and delivering true bus rapid transit. Projects should be judged on their speed improvements, time savings, and accessibility upgrades for riders.
Close collaboration with the MTA should include all-door boarding, scheduling adjustments, more frequent service, and procurement of buses with doors on both sides to streamline bus rapid transit. The City should also reconsider snow emergency routes, banning parking along bus corridors to avoid blocking bus stops and shelters during and after winter storms.
To achieve fast buses, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Bus speed improvements tied to priority projects by neighborhood and borough
Time saved per rider along priority corridors by neighborhood and borough
Before-and-after ridership numbers for every priority project/corridor, peak vs. off-peak
Citywide bus speeds by season, peak vs. off-peak
ACE/ABLE camera enforcement tickets/fines collected/outstanding by route/geography
Upgraded bus stops: shelters, street furniture, accessibility improvements
Coordination with impacted community groups – including New Yorkers with disabilities, who disproportionately rely on the bus system due to the inaccessibility of the subway system – to ensure that crucial features are considered during the design phase rather than after the fact
II. A Connected Bike Network
The City must develop and implement a plan for a fully connected bike lane network. Today, 98% of streets lack safe space for people on bikes and the majority of New Yorkers do not have access to a protected bike lane. The existing network is riddled with gaps and glaring omissions.
No bike lane should ever end without connecting to another. As you plan additions to the protected bike lane network, the focus should be on those disconnected destinations. The City should expand the hardening of bike lanes and use its powers to implement automated enforcement of bike lanes. Additionally, the City should set ambitious goals and metrics for bike ridership, daily rides, and the connectivity of the bike network.
To achieve safe cycling, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Mileage of protected or off-street, connected cycle paths/greenways
Bike lane connectivity (immediately rather than starting in 2028 as the law requires)
New street forms beyond bike lanes, including low-traffic neighborhoods/streets and bike boulevards
Automated bike counters rolled out by corridor, neighborhood and borough
Increases in cycling (with an expansion of automated bike counters)
III. Streets for People
Across New York, the construction of pedestrian plazas has been shown to provide economic and social boons -- boosting local business revenue and shrinking retail vacancies while creating spaces where communities can gather affordably and publicly. Adjacent programs, such as Summer Streets, Open Streets, and School Streets, have similarly catalyzing effects, even reducing local pollution counts. However, unlike other metrics in the Streets Plan, the original annual requirements for pedestrian space in the Streets Plan ended in 2023.
The City should reimplement and expand pedestrian plaza metrics. Space for people on foot should be a permanent, non-sunsetting feature of the Streets Plan. The City should also commit to building a pedestrian plaza in every community district without one in the next three years, and lay out a plan for annual expansions of Summer Streets, adding time, locations, and length, as well as a mechanism for limiting the reliance on NYPD staffing for the event, like bollards.
To achieve these goals, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Number of plaza permit applications received and percent granted vs. denied by neighborhood
Percentage of school children with access to a school street by neighborhood and borough
Percentage of school children at campuses without outdoor off-street play space with access to a school street by neighborhood and borough
IV. Curbmaxxing (Beyond Parking)
“Free” parking in the densest parts of the city is a luxury we can’t afford. Instead, the curb should be dedicated to higher value uses including trash containerization, paid loading zones for delivery companies, designated Access-A-Ride paratransit pick-up/drop-off locations, and dynamic metered parking for private vehicle storage to make more parking available to those who need it, bolster public revenue and fund streets improvements, affordable public transit, and related priorities. Policies should prioritize and promote access to streets, sidewalks, public spaces, and mass transit for New Yorkers with disabilities.
The City should also consider changing alternate side parking rules that lead to additional congestion, pollution and crashes, which exacerbate the external costs of driving for everyone.
To achieve these goals, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Parking meter revenue by neighborhood or corridor
Free parking spaces by neighborhood and borough
Dynamic pricing zones or corridors implemented
Parking placards issued
Placard violation citations issued
V. Reducing Driving
City driving and car ownership have increased since the advent of rideshare companies and the COVID-19 pandemic. Congestion pricing has curbed the increase in select neighborhoods but more must be done. The 2022 OneNYC: Getting Sustainability Done plan set a goal to increase sustainable travel from 65% to 80% of trips by 2050. But we’ve moved in the opposite direction since the count began in 2017.
The City should set an explicit goal to cut vehicle miles traveled per capita 40% by 2035 – a policy which will complement every other climate, transit and safety initiative – and adopt a robust mix of carrots and sticks to meet this goal, including the approach to freight, highways, For Hire Vehicles, and limited vehicle access zones.
With this goal in mind, the city should take a second and third look at all transportation projects that increase VMT. And the plan should consider how the public transit system makes people with disabilities more reliant on personal vehicles, paratransit, and for-hire vehicles.
To achieve these goals, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Vehicle miles traveled per capita
Percentage of trips taken by walking, transit, and bicycle/micromobility
Percentage of car-owning households with a disabled family member
VI. Vision Zero Streetscape Improvements
New York has made major advances in street safety but persistent challenges remain. Meanwhile, cities from Helsinki to Hoboken have actually achieved Vision Zero. Success is within reach and we have the tools to save lives lost on city streets in every neighborhood.
The City should implement Sammy’s Law 20 mph expansively, lowering the speed limit across large zones, as permitted under the law, rather than block-by-block reduction. Hardened daylighting should be operationalized as a part of regular street maintenance such that a target date can be set for implementation at all applicable intersections, beginning with the most dangerous arterial streets. Daylighting measures must account for the safety of all pedestrians, including those using wheelchairs. A driver may be able to see a standing pedestrian over certain large daylighting barriers but not a person using a wheelchair.
We seek an expanded, comprehensive approach to safety, focusing on safe transportation options to fit every New Yorker, car-free school and park environs, and a culture of vibrant street life free from intrusive vehicular noise that glorifies aggressive driving, which compromises public health and presents an unaffordable distraction in the attention economy.
To achieve these goals, the Streets Plan should incorporate the following metrics:
Traffic crashes resulting in death or serious injury by mode, neighborhood, season and time of day
Hard daylit intersections
School streets/open streets/plaza blocks implemented by neighborhood and borough
Neighborhood pedestrianization initiatives
Low-traffic neighborhoods
Vehicle idling and engine/exhaust noise complaints by neighborhood and borough
On streets we can afford, every New Yorker, regardless of age, income or ability, will have access to multiple, safe, high-quality transportation options. The freedom of the city that belongs to every lifetime resident, immigrant, transplant, commuter, and visitor alike will become a shared point of pride and source of unity amid all of our glorious diversity.
By strengthening the ability of everyone in every neighborhood across New York City to access basic needs and opportunities of all kinds, the next Street Plans can tighten our bonds as a city. We look forward to continuing our partnership and delivering together on the promise of New York as a home for millions, a gateway to the nation, and a beacon for the world.
Sincerely,
Riders Alliance
Transportation Alternatives
Open Plans
Regional Plan Association
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
StreetsPAC
New York League of Conservation Voters
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group
NYC-DSA Transit Working Group
Kids Over Cars
Professional Staff Congress/CUNY