The CUNY Institute for Transportation Systems has been established at the City College in cooperation with the other units of the City University of New York in order to respond to the need for interdisciplinary education of transportation professionals.

The primary objective of the Institute's academic programs is to train transportation planners, engineers and managers to plan effectively, design optimally, operate efficiently, and manage skillfully transportation systems that are capable of satisfying the needs of society. This must be done with full awareness of the human element and in such a way as to optimize the use of financial resources, while protecting the environment and energy resources, and causing minimal social disruption.