Transportation Justice

The transportation sector is responsible for about 28% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in New York State and nearly 28% of New York City’s GHG emissions. In order to deal with the growing dangers of climate change and improve public health outcomes in frontline communities, it is essential to create a cleaner and more efficient transportation system in New York City and New York State.

NYC-EJA advocates for a just and equitable transportation future through multiple campaigns that advance City and State policies to reduce emissions, increase access to sustainable transportation options, improve air quality and support better health, especially in low-income communities and communities of color that inequitable transportation systems and infrastructure have historically overburdened.

While issues of access, reliability and technological advancements are often placed at the forefront of transportation debates, our campaigns also elevate the importance of understanding how transportation and public health intersect. For example, in many low-income communities and communities of color, the burden of inadequate and unreliable transportation options is compounded by the uneven distribution of transportation facilities like bus depots and how the clustering of these and other public works facilities can lead to negative health outcomes like increased asthma rates.

Our advocacy efforts include our demand for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to transition its entire fleet to zero-emissions, all-electric public buses; our fight for a comprehensive congestion pricing plan to reduce traffic, improve air quality, and provide a dedicated funding stream to improve the public transportation system, regulating e-commerce warehouses at the city and state level to reduce emissions from the extreme levels of incoming and outgoing truck and vehicle trips, and our support of neighborhood-based grassroots transportation campaigns to make transportation improvements that serve all New Yorkers equitably, rather than a privileged few.

NYC-EJA coordinates ElectrifyNY, a statewide coalition of transportation, environmental, labor and environmental justice advocates pressing the public and private transportation sectors to transition from fossil fuel-burning vehicles to zero-emissions, all-electric vehicles. Low-income communities and communities of color represent the majority of public bus riders at 66 percent, which makes them the most vulnerable to the health impacts of tailpipe pollution from the buses traversing their neighborhood streets or laying idle on street corners and in bus depots.  An April 2018, NYC-EJA report found that 75% of MTA bus depots in NYC are located in communities of color.

Since launching in 2018, ElectrifyNY has secured the MTA’s commitment to convert its public transit bus fleet to all-electric by 2040. Research has shown that an all-electric bus transition would lead to a 97% reduction in fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) while also providing for increased health cost savings for everyday New Yorkers, as well as maintenance and fuel cost savings for the MTA. ElectrifyNY also launched a digital Municipal Fleet Toolkit to provide resources and information to municipal fleet managers across New York to develop and implement their own electric vehicle transition plans. ElectrifyNY has also advocated for key legislation through the Green Transit/Green Jobs bill (S6089/A6414) to mandate all transit agencies transition their vehicle fleets to zero-emissions by requiring them to purchase only zero-emissions vehicles starting no later than the year 2029.

In 2022, the coalition scored a majority victory in New York State’s fiscal year 2022-2023 budget. 2.3 million students, approximately 10 percent of our nation’s pupils, are transported to school on New York State’s 45,000 buses. The mandate established a nation-leading commitment for all new school buses purchased to be zero emission by 2027 and all school buses in operation to be electric by 2035. The budget also included funding to help school districts transition to all-electric buses with an additional $500 million through the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, which voters overwhelmingly supported in November 2022.

The ElectrifyNY coalition is also working to regulate e-commerce mega warehouses that are appearing throughout the state. E-commerce mega-warehouses are facilities that are used to facilitate deliveries directly to customers. They are often located in or near urban areas and are used to sort, consolidate, and
distribute packages for delivery to customers’ homes or businesses. E-commerce mega-warehouses play a critical role in the e-commerce and logistics industry, as they allow for the efficient and timely delivery of goods to customers. Still, they also generate significant emissions from the large number of delivery trucks that come in and out of the facility, adversely impacting workers and contributing to poor air quality in surrounding communities. The coalition is working for the state to adopt the Clean Deliveries Act (S2127/A1718) to address the impacts of e-commerce mega-warehouses by establishing an indirect source rule for transportation. This bill would require an air emissions reduction and mitigation plan for all qualifying warehouse operators to minimize pollution, provide enhanced protections for warehouses operating in disadvantaged communities or that impact schools and similar facilities, require a permit for new warehouse developments or those proposing significant modifications, ongoing reporting requirements related to truck traffic and emissions mitigation measures, and includes a zero-emission zones study on the feasibility, benefits, and costs of implementing low- and zero emissions designated areas for air pollution and congestion hotspots within New York State.

For more information, visit the ElectrifyNY webpage.

NYC-EJA worked as a coordinating member of the Fix the Subway campaign, a grassroots campaign fighting to increase funding for much-needed improvements to New York City’s subway system through the passage of congestion pricing. In collaboration with transit and environmental advocates, our campaign succeeded in passing the nation’s first Congestion Pricing plan in 2019, projected to generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenue to be invested into NYC’s public transit system. The Congestion Pricing plan was scheduled to begin implementation in January 2021. Still, after many delays, plus the release of the Environmental Assessment plan in August 2022 and the Finding of No Significant Impact in May 2023, the program is expected to begin in early 2024. NYC-EJA continues to advocate for the swift implementation of an environmentally just congestion pricing program.

Since 2021, the Last-Mile Coalition was formed to regulate the unregulated growth of last-mile warehouses in New York City. The City’s Zoning Resolution permits “warehouses” in all manufacturing districts and C8 commercial districts “as-of-right.” As a result, the City has no opportunity to plan for the installation of these facilities. A number of manufacturing-zoned areas are adjacent to residential districts, including potential environmental justice areas. Rapid last-mile warehouse development without any review or systemic planning is leading to the clustering of these facilities and generating an increase in congestion both on local streets and highways throughout the City, especially in communities of color and low-income communities that are already experiencing truck congestion and pollution, compounding existing environmental. To regulate these facilities, the coalition has submitted a zoning text amendment application that would define these facilities based on size and use, and create a special permit process for any new facility. To learn more about the Last-Mile Coalition, click here (Spanish).

Since 2017, NYC-EJA and members of the Climate Justice Alliance have sounded the alarm on the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI), a false solution to reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector. TCI is designed based on a Cap,Trade and Invest model, adopted for mobile sources of pollution. It proposes yet another carbon trading market, which allows fuel suppliers to purchase carbon emissions allowances in order to generate revenue to be invested into potential “clean transportation” options. However there are many environmental justice concerns including the perpetuation of the status quo for polluters as long as they pay into the fund, potential emission increases in EJ communities (as has happened in California), a lack of commitment to specific investment percentages in environmental justice communities, the tendency for state governors to “raid” clean energy funds, just to name a few. Learn more about the TCI Lie here.

ince 2016, NYC-EJA has supported our member organization UPROSE in their advocacy efforts against the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX); a proposed project to build a streetcar along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfronts – mostly within flood zones and storm surge zones. Initiated by real estate developers with property interests along the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts, the BQX has been falsely promoted as accessible transportation that would support jobs and economic access. In 2018, UPROSE won a significant victory when the de Blasio Administration and the NYC Economic Development Corporation dropped the Sunset Park portion of the proposed BQX route.

In 2019, NYC-EJA continued the fight, coordinating the NO-BQX! Coalition, which engaged EDC and DOT directly through their community engagement process. NYC-EJA held rallies at key BQX events and provided information to the public which galvanized growing public opposition to the streetcar proposal. The City has been forced to shelve the ill-fated BQX project due to ongoing public disapproval and a need to focus on sustaining our public transit system, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. NYC-EJA will remain vigilant to ensure that the City does not re-engage the speculative “value capture” approach to financing transit options, which would fuel gentrification and displacement in low-income and working class neighborhoods.

Accomplishments

  • Alongside bill sponsors, and supported by the Last-Mile Coalition, ElectrifyNY introduced legislation to address the impacts of e-commerce mega-warehouses by establishing an indirect source rule for transportation through the Clean Deliveries Act (S2127/A1718).

  • In September 2022, the Last-Mile Coalition submitted a zoning text amendment application (project description and text seeking to amend) to change the City Zoning Resolution to define last-mile warehouses based on use and size, and create a special permit process for any new facility.

  • ElectrifyNY launched a digital Municipal Fleet Toolkit to provide resources and information to municipal fleet managers across New York in order to develop and implement their own electric vehicle transition plans.

  • ElectrifyNY introduced key legislation through the Transit/Green Jobs package of bills (A9046/S7349 and A10559/S8548), to mandate all transit agencies transition their vehicle fleets to all-electric by requiring them to purchase only zero-emissions vehicles starting no later than the year 2029.

  • In collaboration with transit and environmental justice advocates, our efforts through the Fix The Subway Campaign led to the passage of  the nation’s first Congestion Pricing plan, projected to generate nearly $2 billion in annual revenue to be invested into NYC’s public transit system.

  • We established ElectrifyNY; a State-wide coalition of allies in transit, environmental, labor and environmental justice advocacy to advance an electric vehicle transition in New York State, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for a cleaner transpiration future.

  • In 2019 Mayor Bill De Blasio finally declared his support for a comprehensive congestion pricing plan, joining Governor Andrew Cuomo, supportive members Senate and Assembly and communities demanding funding for public transportation improvements in New York City.

  • In 2018, our member organization Uprose was successful in their fight against the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) project. Their advocacy led to the removal of their neighborhood (Sunset Park) from the proposed streetcar route.

  • In 2018, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) gave its commitment to transition its entire public bus fleet to a zero-emissions, all electric fleet by 2040.