Transportation Alternatives, a 5000 member bicycle, pedestrian, and mass transit advocacy organization, strongly supports a "no more diesel buses" policy in NYC; an immediate, expedited shift to a compressed natural gas bus fleet; and a full-length Second Avenue Subway.

Particulate matter levels in NYC are among the highest in the U.S. and violate federal air pollution standards. A large portion of this pollution-more than 50% in Manhattan-comes from diesel tailpipes. Diesel soot has been linked with increased asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and various forms of cancer, and an estimated 4,000 New Yorkers die prematurely each year at current levels. The neighborhoods around MTA's diesel depots in NYC have some of the highest rates of asthma in the nation. It is safe to say that NYC's number one air pollution threat-and indeed one of the city's primary public health threats-comes from diesel exhaust.

In light of these facts, one would think that the MTA would be making a concerted effort to phase out its diesel bus fleet. However, MTA's 2000-2004 capital plan identifies two-thirds of the new buses for purchase-approximately 800-as diesel powered, and only one-third as clean fuel buses. This means that New Yorkers will be breathing dirty diesel fumes, and suffering the ill health effects, until some time well into the next century.

While the 300 clean-fuel buses identified in the capital plan is a step in the right direction, the sheer number of new diesel buses is staggering, and the fact that MTA has not yet issued a "no new diesels" policy in NYC is unacceptable, especially given the fact that MTA is converting its entire Long Island bus fleet into clean fuel buses. Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto, Cleveland, and other transit authorities around the country have adopted "no new diesels" policies. It is time for MTA to follow their examples, and to make an expedited shift to a compressed natural gas bus fleet in NYC. Compressed natural gas fuel is cleaner than diesel, cheaper than diesel, and is used successfully around the world. New Yorkers have too long paid with their health for their willingness to use public transportation. It is time for MTA to dump diesel once and for all.

A full-length Second Avenue subway goes hand-in-hand with a clean-fuel bus fleet as a transit "must have" for the next century in NYC. Subway ridership is at a thirty year high, and the Lexington Avenue line is already operating at above full capacity, with an additional 12,000 peak hour riders expected once the link between the LIRR and Grand Central is completed. The MTA's proposed 125th to 63rd Street 'stub' will not make a significant dent in this growing straphangers nightmare, much less provide transit service to the long-ignored East Village and Lower East Side. MTA cannot continue to ignore this escalating crisis. The East Side-and indeed all of NYC-needs a full-length Second Avenue subway in the new century and millennium.