Skip to main content

New York mayor to reduce city’s vehicle fleet

New York’s mayor Bill de Blasio has signed an executive order to reduce the city’s on-road public sector vehicle fleet. The move is part of a commitment to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. The city will remove 1,000 vehicles from its fleet by June 2021 and reduce the number of take-home vehicles by at least 500. Additionally, it will replace at least 350 SUVs with electric plug-in sedans and promote greater vehicle efficiency by using advanced data collection. “Eliminating unnecessary vehicles fro
April 11, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

New York’s mayor Bill de Blasio has signed an executive order to reduce the city’s on-road public sector vehicle fleet.

The move is part of a commitment to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.

The city will remove 1,000 vehicles from its fleet by June 2021 and reduce the number of take-home vehicles by at least 500. Additionally, it will replace at least 350 SUVs with electric plug-in sedans and promote greater vehicle efficiency by using advanced data collection.

“Eliminating unnecessary vehicles from our streets and replacing gas-guzzling SUVs with electric cars will bring us one step closer to our carbon emission reduction goals, which means a cleaner New York City for all,” he said.

With the order, the city estimates 10 million fewer miles will be driven by vehicles each year, resulting in reduced congestion and cutting fuel consumption by 500,000 gallons and decreasing annual emissions by 6,300 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The city will review every agency’s fleet to ensure the vehicles are being used efficiently and will reduce the fleet size as needed, it says.

Lisette Camilo, commissioner of the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), says: “To support Mayor de Blasio’s vision for a cleaner and safer New York, we are using new technology to right-size the city’s fleet and to more efficiently use the cars we do need.”

The DCAS will review every take-home car in the fleet and use vehicle data to identify usage patterns. Those which are underused will be re-assigned to the agency’s fleet pool, which can be used by multiple employees.

The move builds on the mayor’s commitment to establish a more green and carbon-neutral fleet:


•    The City now operates over 1,750 on-road electric vehicles, the largest network for any municipal government.
•    It operates a network of 568 electric vehicle charging stations, including the largest network of solar-powered vehicle chargers, with 65 in use.
•    Last year New York began using renewable diesel, a 99% petroleum-free diesel alternative made of organic material.
•    Light-duty fleet vehicles have achieved an average fuel economy equivalent of 100 miles per gallon (MPG).
•    The city has also ordered its first 190 hybrid pursuit-rated police vehicles.

Related Content

  • Copenhagen: everything's gone green
    October 3, 2018
    As the ITS World Congress arrives in Copenhagen, Adam Hill finds out how Dynniq has been helping traffic flow – and CO2 reduction - in the Danish capital. Most of the time, ‘breathing easier’ is just an expression which indicates a metaphorical sigh of relief that something has worked out alright. But it can be literally true, too. Respiratory and other potential health problems which stem from pollution in the world’s increasingly urbanised environments have been well publicised and governments are
  • ADN’s Bled SaaS option eases driver stress
    July 23, 2019
    ADN Mobile Solutions has developed a technology-plus-training tool for bus operators which it says will reduce driver stress, cut emissions and improve the bottom line Public transit is at the heart of future urban mobility. The focus here is, quite rightly, on improving the experience for riders – but there is someone else in the chain who might be overlooked, despite being vital to the success of any operation: the driver. Bus drivers, for example, have a difficult job, combating congestion and the
  • UK government’s autumn statement – fuel tax freeze ‘a positive step’
    December 6, 2013
    Among the transport announcements made by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in his Autumn Statement, he promised tax relief for motorists, including a freeze in fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament. He also confirmed the abolition of the paper road tax disc, ‘removing an administrative inconvenience for millions of motorists’ from October 2014. This move is expected to save the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) around US$5 million a year. It will also save fleet own
  • Researchers accidentally discover how to convert pollution into fuel
    October 20, 2016
    In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have accidentally developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. The team used a catalyst made of carbon, copper and nitrogen and applied voltage to trigger a complicated chemical reaction that essentially reverses the combustion process. With the help of the nanotechnology-based catalyst which