The city has waged a remarkably successful effort to get cars off its streets and reclaim walkable space. But it didn’t happen overnight.
For comparison’s sake, the share of trips made by car in New York City has shrunk since the 1990s, too. But about twice as many trips still take place inside a car. Check out the graph below, from the New York City Department of Transportation, to see how the cities’ mode share shifts stack up over time.