Time's Up!
Time's Up! is a New York City environmental and transportation-activism organization focused on sustainable mobility, public space, community gardens, and grassroots education.
Last updated November 4, 2026
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Overview
Time's Up! is a volunteer-led environmental organization founded in New York City in 1987. Its work connects everyday consumer and transportation choices with wider ecological and urban issues, including air quality, energy use, water pollution, rainforest destruction, animal testing, and the design of streets and public spaces. Rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, Time's Up! functions as an activist identity used across campaigns, educational programs, public events, community projects, and bicycle-related services. The organization's early campaigns sought to make environmental issues understandable through practical examples and public-facing materials. In the late 1980s it worked with other environmental groups on efforts to ban expanded-polystyrene packaging and limit chemicals associated with ozone depletion. Its campaigns used posters, workshops, seminars, demonstrations, and community outreach to connect local behavior with broader environmental consequences. During the 1990s, sustainable transportation became a central part of the organization's identity. Time's Up! promoted bicycling, hybrid and electric-assisted transportation, and reduced dependence on private automobiles. It collaborated with Light Wheels, Cooper Union, and the HUB Station on research and prototypes related to bicycle technology. The group also helped establish New York City's pedicab industry by contributing to the design and production of pedicabs with the HUB Station. These activities positioned Time's Up! at the intersection of environmentalism, urban mobility, and grassroots public-space advocacy. Time's Up! also used mapping, recreational rides, and cultural events to encourage residents to experience New York City differently. In 1992 it supported the first Green Apple Map, which identified environmentally significant sites across the city, and later co-sponsored cycling tours based on the map. Central Park Moonlight Rides, launched in 1994, offered a comparatively safe, car-free setting where cyclists could gain confidence and explore the park at night. The group organized rides, street parties, design competitions, and campaigns seeking less automobile traffic in Central Park and other public spaces. Its activism extended beyond transportation. Time's Up! participated in community-garden work, environmental and animal-rights education, the Street Memorial Project honoring cyclists and pedestrians killed by motorists, and New York City versions of the international Reclaim the Streets movement. Those events used direct action, art, dancing, and temporary street occupations to challenge the assumption that urban streets should primarily serve cars. The organization was also associated with efforts that contributed to the transformation of Times Square into a more pedestrian-oriented public space, although Reclaim the Streets activity in New York was a loose coalition rather than a single centrally controlled campaign. In the 2000s and 2010s, Time's Up! remained involved in bicycle education, community organizing, public-space activism, and mutual aid. Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, it helped deploy electric bicycles for charging small electronic devices and supported volunteer teams delivering food and supplies to heavily affected areas including Staten Island and the Rockaways. The organization also supported the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, and maintained a video-documentary capability for recording activist campaigns and urban issues. Time's Up! is associated with a volunteer membership model rather than a conventional staff-heavy institutional structure. Contemporary accounts described approximately 150 members in 2012. Its continuing public-facing activity includes a bicycle cooperative in Manhattan's East Village, where volunteer mechanics, donated or secondhand parts, and private contributions support do-it-yourself repairs and low-cost bicycle servicing. The organization therefore combines environmental education, bicycle culture, community resilience, and direct-action politics under a single New York-centered activist brand.
History
Time's Up! was established in New York City in 1987 as an environmental organization focused on public education and community action. Its initial approach was to explain how ordinary purchases and habits affected ecological systems. Campaign themes included rainforest destruction, animal testing, energy consumption, air pollution, and water contamination. The organization worked through posters, public events, workshops, seminars, and collaborations with other activist groups. In 1988, Time's Up! joined environmental efforts directed at expanded-polystyrene packaging and ozone-depleting chemicals. The anti-polystyrene campaign used public posters and helped keep the issue visible in New York environmental politics, although the material later reappeared in common use. New York City eventually enacted a ban on expanded-polystyrene containers in 2015. By the early 1990s, the organization had made non-polluting transportation a major focus. It promoted cycling, hybrid-electric vehicles, and electric pedal-assist technology, and collaborated with Light Wheels, Cooper Union, and the HUB Station on research, prototypes, workshops, and public presentations. In 1992, it supported the creation of the first Green Apple Map, identifying 145 New York City locations with environmental significance or impact. The map became the basis for recurring Green Apple Cycling Tours. Time's Up! also campaigned against automobile dominance in public spaces. It organized group rides and other actions calling for the removal or reduction of car traffic in Central Park, supported street parties and design competitions, and advocated for more people-centered urban planning. During this period it worked with the HUB Station on the design and production of pedicabs, contributing to the development of New York City's pedicab sector. In 1994, the group began the Central Park Moonlight Ride, using the park's relatively protected, car-free environment to make nighttime cycling more accessible and appealing. Environmental and social concerns broadened during the mid-1990s. In 1996, Time's Up! worked with the Wetlands Activism Collective on animal-rights and forest-preservation education. It also launched the Street Memorial Project to commemorate cyclists and pedestrians killed by motorists. The group was connected with New York City's Reclaim the Streets events from roughly 1998 through 2002. These events combined direct action, music, dance, and temporary street occupations to challenge car-centered urban design. Activities occurred in locations including Astor Place, Avenue A and Seventh Street, Times Square, and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, sometimes alongside efforts to reclaim abandoned lots for community gardens. The movement was loosely organized, and Time's Up! operated as one participant among several collectives rather than as its sole organizer. In later years, Time's Up! continued combining environmental advocacy with bicycle culture, community gardens, public-space organizing, and activist documentation. It supported the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space. The organization also maintained a video documentary team, allowing campaigns and urban struggles to be recorded and circulated. A contemporary description from 2012 characterized the group as volunteer-run with approximately 150 members, and an account by Tamiment Library director Michael Nash placed Time's Up! at the center of a newer generation of activist politics in New York. The organization's mutual-aid role became especially visible after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Time's Up! made electric bicycles available so residents could charge phones and other small devices and helped organize volunteer teams carrying food and supplies to Staten Island and the Rockaways. Its later bicycle-cooperative activity in Manhattan's East Village continued the practical side of its mission by providing do-it-yourself maintenance and low-cost servicing through volunteer mechanics, donated or reused components, and private donations. Across its history, Time's Up! has remained a locally rooted activist organization rather than a commercial product company, using its name to unite environmental education, sustainable transport, community resilience, and the reclamation of public space.
- 2015
New York City polystyrene ban
[1]New York City prohibited expanded-polystyrene containers after years of environmental campaigning in which Time's Up! had participated.
- 2012
Hurricane Sandy mutual aid
[1]The organization deployed electric bicycles for charging and helped deliver food and supplies to communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.
- 1998
New York Reclaim the Streets activity
[1]Time's Up! participated in a series of New York Reclaim the Streets events using art, dance, direct action, and temporary street occupations to challenge car-centered planning.
- 1996
Forest and animal-rights campaign work
[1]The organization partnered with the Wetlands Activism Collective on awareness work concerning animal rights and the preservation of virgin and rainforest ecosystems.
- 1996
Street Memorial Project launched
[1]Time's Up! began commemorating cyclists and pedestrians killed by motorists through the Street Memorial Project.
- 1994
Central Park Moonlight Ride begins
[1]Time's Up! launched a nighttime bicycle ride in Central Park to provide a safer, car-free setting for cyclists.
- 1992
Green Apple Map introduced
[1]The group supported the first Green Apple Map, which identified environmentally significant sites in New York City, and later helped organize cycling tours based on it.
- 1991
Sustainable transportation research
[1]Time's Up! worked with Light Wheels, Cooper Union, and the HUB Station on hybrid, electric, and pedal-assisted transportation concepts and public education.
- 1988
Anti-polystyrene and ozone-protection campaigning
[1]The organization joined environmental groups campaigning against polystyrene packaging and chemicals associated with ozone depletion.
- 1987
Organization founded
[1]Time's Up! was founded in New York City to educate communities about environmental issues and connect personal choices with ecological consequences.
Products and positioning
A grassroots New York City environmental organization that uses bicycling, public education, direct action, community repair, and public-space projects to promote non-polluting transportation and more sustainable urban life.
Bicycle repair and education
Time's Up! Bike Cooperative
A volunteer-supported bicycle workshop in Manhattan's East Village focused on do-it-yourself repairs, maintenance education, and affordable servicing. Its operating model relies on volunteer mechanics, reused or secondhand components, and private donations rather than a conventional retail-service structure.
Environmental mapping and education · 1992
Green Apple Map
An early New York City environmental map identifying sites with ecological or environmental significance. Time's Up! used the map as an educational tool and helped turn it into a recurring program of guided bicycle tours.
Cycling event · 1994
Central Park Moonlight Ride
A nighttime cycling program created in Central Park as a safer, car-free way for New Yorkers to explore the city by bicycle and build confidence riding after dark.
Environmental education · 1987
Environmental workshops and campaigns
Time's Up! has used workshops, seminars, posters, presentations, and public demonstrations to explain issues such as consumer impacts, air quality, energy use, animal rights, rainforest preservation, and non-polluting transportation.
Controversies
Marketing campaigns
- 1998Reclaim the Streets
New York City
Time's Up! participated in loosely coordinated Reclaim the Streets actions in New York, combining direct action, music, dance, street events, and community-garden organizing to question automobile-centered urban design.
Outcome. The actions helped build a visible public-space movement and were associated with advocacy for more pedestrian-oriented areas, including Times Square.
- 1996Forest and animal-rights awareness campaign
New York City
Together with the Wetlands Activism Collective, Time's Up! promoted awareness of animal rights and the preservation of virgin forests and rainforest ecosystems.
- 1993Car-free parks and public-space advocacy
New York City
Time's Up! organized group rides, design competitions, and street parties advocating reduced automobile use and expanded public access in Central Park and other urban spaces.
Outcome. Cars were subsequently excluded from Central Park and Prospect Park, an outcome the organization has associated with its advocacy.
- 1991Non-polluting transportation campaign
New York City
The organization promoted bicycling and explored hybrid-electric and electric pedal-assist transportation through research, prototypes, workshops, seminars, and presentations.
- 1988Anti-polystyrene and ozone-protection campaign
New York City
Time's Up! worked with other environmental organizations to raise public opposition to polystyrene packaging and harmful ozone-depleting chemicals, using public education and poster campaigns.
Outcome. New York City later banned expanded-polystyrene containers in 2015; the specific causal contribution of Time's Up! is not quantified.
Brand decisions
2012
Shift emergency resources toward post-Sandy mutual aidStrategyBackground
Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage across New York City, particularly in Staten Island and the Rockaways.
Action taken
Time's Up! made electric bicycles available for charging small devices and helped organize volunteer teams delivering food and other supplies.
Aftermath
The organization extended its environmental-transportation capabilities into short-term disaster relief and community resilience work.
Recent events
Time's Up CEO Tina Tchen resigns[3]
Reported:
Time's Up CEO Tina Tchen announced her resignation following reports about the group's handling of allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo. The article also reports that board chair Roberta Kaplan resigned over the Cuomo matter.
Sources3 sources
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