NYC air quality is quite good, especially considering the density. I agree in principle re society's addiction to cars and I'd love if there were fewer in NYC, but, interestingly, the subway system actually has orders of magnitude worse air than street level: https://www.curbed.com/2021/02/mta-subway-air-quality-pollut....
Maybe, but the subway itself is entirely electric. I think the air on underground platforms gets stale and muggy, but I'm not sure it's actually more dangerous than being above-ground with the cars and trucks.
