As the Bloomberg administration scrambles to cut spending, it is ordering city agencies like the police, parks and health departments to give up nearly 700 city-owned cars, a cherished perk for their workers.

The move would save $20 million over the next two years, according to a copy of the memorandum sent to city agencies.

The decision to sell off scores of Toyota Prius cars and Ford Escape sport utility vehicles is very likely to irritate many city workers, who use the them to travel around the city inspecting sites or rushing to meetings. But it would help blunt criticism that City Hall practices a form of vehicular hypocrisy, telling ordinary New Yorkers to use mass transportation while at times clogging the streets with its own city-issued cars.

City agencies must relinquish at least 10 percent, or about 685, of their 6,800 nonemergency vehicles by the end of March, according to the memo from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, which was sent on Wednesday and obtained by The New York Times.

And they must cut their overall vehicle expenses by roughly another 5 percent, either by relinquishing more cars or cutting down on fuel or maintenance costs, the memo said.

The decision represents Mr. Bloomberg’s latest attack on what he regards as unnecessary traffic that snarls the city’s roadways and pollutes the air.

Last year, after embarrassing revelations of abuse, the city started to eliminate thousands of placards that gave employees free street parking privileges at their workplace and across the city while on official business.

That followed an ill-fated campaign, in 2007, to establish a congestion pricing fee on cars entering Midtown Manhattan, which met stiff resistance from lawmakers in Albany, who eventually killed the proposal.

Removing 700 city cars from the road, Mr. Bloomberg’s memo said, would help the city meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions from city government by 30 percent by 2017.

(Source: NY Times)