NYC DOT boss touts ‘car-free future’ despite New Yorkers’ subway crime fears

New York City’s transportation boss proclaimed a “car-free future” on Tuesday — as he called for an expansion of the Big Apple’s controversial COVID-era street closure and outdoor dining program.

“The future New York City is going car-free,” Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez told reporters at a press conference touting the city’s “open streets” initiative, which he said helped boost economic recovery.

His pledge to lure New Yorkers out of cars came despite heightened fears over the city’s startling high subway crime rates. The system is on track to see a record number of homicides this year.

Still, Rodriguez was emphatic that he hopes to expand the program — which has drawn heat for allowing parking spaces to be taken over by dining sheds that critics charge are magnates for crowd noise, garbage and rodents.

It gobbled up some 8,500 parking spots during its peak, according to the city’s figures. Rodriguez defended the parking removal as a necessary response to NYC’s crunch for real estate.

“When we compare to other cities such as London, [which has] 8.9 million people. Here in New York City, we have 8.6. But they are above 600 square miles. We have only 350,” he said.

“I know what it is [like] to be looking for parking from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. No, we don’t have the space. Anyone who gets into a car, they should know that.”

Added Rodriguez, “It is our responsibility to have a better plan on how we repurpose and use our streets.”

The commissioner touted new stats showing businesses and restaurants on streets closed to most car traffic recovered faster from the pandemic than streets that remained open.

Businesses on the so-called open streets saw revenues increase 19% compared to before the pandemic, while those in streets that remained accessible to the drivers saw revenues drop by nearly a third, the Department of Transportation’s report found.

Critics deride the dining sheds as rat-infested havens for homeless people and drug users, as well as makeshift toilets.

People have even witnessed X-rated activities in broad daylight in the structure, The Post reported in August.

A group of residents from across the city has tried to sue to stop the program from becoming permanent. But a judge dismissed the suit earlier this month, allowing the city to move ahead with developing a permanent program.

“Take a look around you. Do you think it worked out well?” asked West Village resident Leslie Clark, whose group West Village Residents was one of those that sued.

“There is no surprise that restaurants on open streets did well financially. Why wouldn’t they? They got free public space, they doubled their capacity in some cases. What about the people who live near those open streets and open restaurants?”

Outdoor dining complaints to the city were up 70% in the second quarter this year over the first quarter, according to city stats.

Mayor Eric Adams has said he plans to replace the sheds and make other changes to the program, but a final plan has yet to materialize and will need the City Council’s approval.