Mayor Mike Bloomberg's plan for a sustainable city proposes 16 initiatives to ease traffic, but a leading cause is ignored: parking permits. Government workers, many of whom receive permits to park for free, are twice as likely to commute by car. Reducing their driving rate to that of other New Yorkers would remove 19,200 cars daily from Manhattan's central business districts, according to consultant Bruce Schaller. That's about a third of what congestion pricing would eliminate. Bloomberg pledged in 2001 to trim the number of parking permits. A mayoral spokesman says that the city now issues 8,873, versus 11,572 in 2001. But those are only "agency business parking permits"; about 150,000 others are issued by government agencies and unions. However, Transportation Alternatives and like-minded groups probably won't fight the mayor over permits because they are his allies on congestion pricing.