The City of New York writes 7000 parking tickets a day to folks like UPS and Fedex (UPS Pays $18 million a year in parking ticket fines)…Then the companies go to court and get a bunch of them thrown out or reduced. — Read about it here.
Here’s the problem — there is simply not enough on street parking space for delivery drivers to use.So, to keep their schedule, they double park, park in driveways, crosswalks, fire hydrants, etc. They gotta deliver the goods. and the parking fines become a cost of doing business. UPS says that NYC is the only place on earth they have this problem. I’ve been in London, Paris, Rome, Shanghai — and let me tell you, the congestion and parking looks like New York. Well, maybe not exactly the same.
The deal is this — if you read the article you find that New York cares about where the trucks park on a sliding scale — don’t care if you double park, care a little if you block a driveway, and really REALLY care if you block a fire hydrant. OK — The REAL reason for all the tickets, NYC wants the $100 million a year they generate in income.
So why not try this —
Select four or five spots per block that can be used for deliveries. Mark them so. (Normal business hours) — Provide in vehicle meters for the delivery companies. The meters must be used in obvious delivery vehicles, not an owners personal Mercedes. Charge what it takes to make 15 percent of the spaces available at all times. — If UPS is paying $18 million a year and is also handling all the admin costs of fighting and paying the tickets, and the city is paying for writing 7000 tickets a month to UPS, at a cost of what, $20 a ticket (probably much more), then it would seem that my plan would work.
UPS and other delivery companies would pay whatever the required amount to make parking available. They wouldn’t have to look for spaces, as one would be readily available. If they had to "double" park, so be it. The meter would be running, and the city would be receiving their money.
Would it work — I don’t have the slightest idea. But it would certainly make more sense than the bureaucratic nightmare caused by the current system for both the city and the companies.
JVH
2 Responses
ALL curbside parking in Midtown and Lower Manhattan is already reserved for deliveries during the weekday, and most of Midtown has commercial-only pay-and-display parking meters.
Great — Now all the city has to do is
1. Begin using “in vehicle” meters and distribute them to the delivery firms.
2. Institute a parking charge that keeps some spaces always open.
Note: I understand that there simply may not be enough space in Manhattan. If that’s the case, perhaps the time has come to look in to different means of delivery.