Sustainability and the MTA

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Every time you board an MTA bus, subway or train, you are helping keep 10.4 pounds of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from entering the atmosphere. The MTA avoids about 17 million metric tons of GHG emissions while emitting only 2 million metric tons, making it perhaps the single biggest source of GHG avoidance in the US. Two-thirds of all New York state residents live in our service area and are less auto-dependent than other Americans. We are efficient without compromising health, lifestyle or income. In fact, we outperform our compatriots in most such indices even as our per-capita carbon footprint is the smallest in the country.

This is the magic of public transportation. It benefits those who use it and those who don’t use it. It relieves congestion on the streets, insulates people from swings in energy prices, and ultimately, it benefits the entire world.

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"Over the next 40 years, the U.S. is projected to grow by 90 million people and the New York metropolitan area by 4 million. We simply cannot afford the economic, social, and environmental impacts of sprawl. The solution is to develop our metropolitan areas around transit, and the MTA is a model of such regional transit service. In addition to accommodating future growth, we must also mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. To do all this, the MTA system must both grow and, at the same time, reduce its own environmental footprint. The result will be a more robust and resilient region. The work of this Commission, along with the contributions of hundreds of MTA employees, sets us on the right path to advance this essential work." -Jonathan F.P. Rose, president, Jonathan Rose Companies. Chair, Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability and the MTA