New York City has cut fuel use and emissions across its municipal vehicle fleet, but the average vehicle age is now the highest since 2012, and aging emergency and service vehicles are increasingly sidelined for repairs, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

The city operates a fleet of about 30,100 vehicles (owned and rented) and motorized equipment maintained and operated by more than 50 city agencies, mostly the Police Department (NYPD) and the departments of Sanitation (DSNY) and Transportation (DOT). These vehicles, including police and park vehicles, fire and sanitation trucks, and ambulances – support critical and daily emergency services throughout the city. In fiscal year (FY) 2025, the city spent $415 million on fuel and fleet repair, and over $400 million in capital funding for new vehicle acquisitions.

“New York City has made real progress cutting fuel use and emissions, but the rising rate of ambulances and sanitation trucks out of service is concerning,” DiNapoli said. “The city needs to be more transparent about how it’s controlling costs and keeping essential services running.”

Key findings:

• Fleet Age and Readiness: The average age of the city’s fleet has reached 90 months – its highest on record – exceeding the city’s target of 85 months. This aging fleet has contributed to a decline in vehicle readiness, with in-service rates for critical vehicles such as ambulances and sanitation trucks falling from over 85% in 2020 to about 77% in late 2023. While rates have improved slightly, they remain below the city’s goal of 87%.
• Emergency Response: Response times for medical emergencies have increased steadily over the past four years, driven in part by limited ambulance availability.
• Staffing Challenges: The number of vehicle repair personnel has declined by 9.3% since 2019, from 1,434 to 1,301, contributing to longer repair times and increased reliance on overtime.
• Sustainability Goals: Despite these challenges, the city has made significant progress in reducing the fleet’s environmental impact. For instance, 100% of new vehicle purchases in FY 2025 met local emission standards, 77% of the fleet now operates on hybrid or alternative fuels, exceeding the city’s target, and 94% of diesel fuel used was renewable biofuel, just shy of the 95% goal, and fuel consumption dropped from 30 million gallons in FY 2013 to 25.6 million gallons in FY 2025, with fuel expenses also lower than a decade ago.

Since 2012, the city has taken steps to centralize fleet management and has been able to reduce the number of vehicles it owns to 28,768 (excluding rentals), which is slightly above the city’s overall target (28,670). The city has centralized decision making and responsibility, consolidated facilities and established new vendor agreements for motor equipment parts and supplies, provided a technical manual for all agencies, and created a fleet inventory management system.

Annual new fleet acquisitions declined sharply since FY 2018 and reached a 10-year low in FY 2021, corresponding with the reduced fleet targets.

While the amount of capital and operating expenditures grew substantially in FY 2023 and has remained above pre-pandemic levels (mainly to support the fleet electrification program), annual fleet acquisitions remain relatively low when compared to the 2010s.

DiNapoli’s report found that as the city’s budget and staffing challenges emerged after 2020, the average age of the city’s fleet rose and is now the highest since at least 2012 while the number of mechanics has declined. The average age of the fleet is now 90 months, a significant increase since 2019 (65 months) and exceeding the FY 2025 target of 85 months. This corresponds with a drop in vehicle readiness rates (from over 90% to 87% as FY 2025) and higher overtime costs.

The in-service rates of “critical” vehicles such as ambulances, Department of Environmental Protection trucks, and DSNY collection trucks, fell more sharply during the pandemic, from a peak of more than 85% in early 2020 to about 77% in the fall of 2023. While these in-service rates have recovered slightly since, they remain below the target of about 87%.

The average end-to-end response times for emergency vehicles have also increased since the pandemic. The city acknowledges that response times for medical emergencies has increased steadily for the last four fiscal years, which it has attributed to a number of factors, including an increase in the number of medical emergency incidents per day and traffic congestion in the outer boroughs, coupled with a limited availability of ambulances.

The city employs skilled workers to maintain its automotive vehicles and equipment in-house. The number of automotive repair personnel had peaked at around 1,434 as of June 2019, but has declined since then (by 9.3%) to 1,301 employees.

The city's fiscal and performance metrics on its fleets are relatively robust and provide insight to the public, but there is room for improvement. DiNapoli’s report recommends the city improve the transparency in fleet performance reporting, reallocate staffing to reduce overtime and improve vehicle availability, continue to modernize fleet management and procurement practices, and enhance the usefulness of the data for planners and city taxpayers alike.

Report
New York City Government Services: Fleet Management

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