FWIW, the city data portal posts parking violation data by year (~10M rows/year): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/Parking-Violat...
1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
31–40 of 214 posts
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
100% agreed. This is a trivially solvable problem, and the only thing standing in the way is the fact that politicians are terrified to upset the small minority of people who currently benefit from free on-street parking. We're currently giving away huge amounts of the most valuable real estate in the country, and we need to reclaim it for publicly beneficial uses including bus lanes, bike lanes, and designated loadi…
I’m all for anything that will get bikers off the sidewalks.
You don't see too much of that in Manhattan, because the sidewalks are so crowded with pedestrians that they're terrible places to be on a bike.
But yes, in general, creating safe, protected bike lanes is an excellent way to increase safety for everyone. I've heard people complain about cyclists on the sidewalks in locations that lacked bike lanes and had speeding motor traffic, and the cyclist clearly felt unsafe riding in the road, hence the sidewalk was the least bad option. You can't be too mad at someone in that situation. It's like yelling at a pedestrian for walking on the side of the road on a road that lacks sidewalks (all too common in the suburbs). If you haven't made any accommodation for the cyclist at all (and increasingly, e-scooters, e-bikes, etc.), then don't be mad when they pick the lesser of two wrongs.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#33> They racked up more than 471,000 parking violations last year... I knew someone who owned a trucking company. They had a lawyer on retainer and every month or so they would gather all the parking tickets, go to a judge (or city official) and cut a deal to pay a fraction of the actual owed amount for all the tickets. This is because, if they did not comply, each ticket would be fought tooth and nail, and the city wo…
Or, the city could have the police put a boot on the truck tires.
It seems boots are reserved for poor people. I've only ever seen boots on run down cars in working class neighborhoods like Crown Heights or Bed Stuy.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
On paper, it's a perfect system. In reality, failing businesses who want the extra income sign up to be package pickup spots, and then provide deplorable service. Some don't respect the opening hours that were published. Some literally climb over mountains of packages. Some have no organisation. Delivery companies realised that they no longer have to attempt deliveries so automatically dump their packages in the pick…
Anecdatum - a local failing newsagent (UK) is the UPS pickup point and I've not had a single problem with them. In fact I prefer picking up from them because UPS delivery times are verging on fictitious. I think it may keep the newsagent afloat and that's absolutely fine by me if I can pickup my packages from them, because they're not going to exist for much longer just selling the curious mixture of indigestion tabl…
>I've not had a single problem with them
Seconded. I get a lot of packages delivered to my local convenience store, even if I'm expecting to be in on the delivery day. I find it vastly preferable to collect the parcel at my own convenience rather than wait for the knock-and-run from an impatient delivery driver.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#35It looks like an ecological disaster by reading the title.
I couldn't read the article because it asked me to "login".
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#36> They racked up more than 471,000 parking violations last year... I knew someone who owned a trucking company. They had a lawyer on retainer and every month or so they would gather all the parking tickets, go to a judge (or city official) and cut a deal to pay a fraction of the actual owed amount for all the tickets. This is because, if they did not comply, each ticket would be fought tooth and nail, and the city wo…
This is common in NYC. The biggest violators should be paying the most, but instead, they pay the least per violation because they bargain down the fines. Here's a pretty typical fine record for a truck that was illegally parked in the bike lane during my commute this week: https://twitter.com/CydeWeys/status/1188467550822293512 (expand all replies) And note how they're getting a reduction in fines: https://twitter.c…
What are they supposed to do? There’s a difference between the letter of the law and reality.
You need deliveries and couriers to make a city work, and NYC is no different.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#37A few thoughts as a bike commuter in Manhattan who sees this first hand every day: The congestion tax can't come soon enough (and it should have no carve-outs, certainly not for people who live here). We need to get rid of lots of free on-street parking in the city and replace it with loading zones so that taxis/Ubers and trucks have free spaces on every block to conduct their business without blocking travel lanes o…
Agreed, the streets are dangerous for bicyclists. Is the train and walking serviceable for your commute?
No. It'd take MUCH longer. Cycling, and other micro-mobility solutions like e-scooters, really are an excellent choice for many people's commutes. We just need to take away some of the street space that's been devoted for vehicles (which don't scale properly to a city of this density anyway) in order to enable more of these commutes. And once we get a lot of vehicles off the roads and replaced with much smaller bikes and such, safety will be increased for everyone, including those doing walking commutes (which necessarily includes transit users too). The fewer large motorized vehicles on the road, the less likely you are to die in a crash.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
On paper, it's a perfect system. In reality, failing businesses who want the extra income sign up to be package pickup spots, and then provide deplorable service. Some don't respect the opening hours that were published. Some literally climb over mountains of packages. Some have no organisation. Delivery companies realised that they no longer have to attempt deliveries so automatically dump their packages in the pick…
UPS already tried doing this a few years ago in Brooklyn,[1] but not Manhattan apparently. I was subjected to this a few years ago. Instead of being greeted at the end of the day with my shiny new $300 phone, they left it in a pile on the filthy floor of a local bodega three blocks away. Then, after finding it, I have to wait in line and have my ID scanned and sign for it. And I paid for overnight shipping but if I d…
This only shows the lack of character of some New Yorkers compared to people from Paris. They resort to stealing to get what they want. It is a shame, and very difficult to create a civilized world in this situation.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is common in NYC. The biggest violators should be paying the most, but instead, they pay the least per violation because they bargain down the fines. Here's a pretty typical fine record for a truck that was illegally parked in the bike lane during my commute this week: https://twitter.com/CydeWeys/status/1188467550822293512 (expand all replies) And note how they're getting a reduction in fines: https://twitter.c…
What are they supposed to do? There’s a difference between the letter of the law and reality. You need deliveries and couriers to make a city work, and NYC is no different.
Problem is that only people or companies with deep pockets can violate the law that way. If you don’t have money for lawyers you have to pay the tickets.
That’s how end up with a two class society where some people are above the law.
Re: 1.5M Packages a Day Bring Chaos to NYC Streets
#40The problem isn't trucks -- obviously, it's hugely more efficient for a single truck+driver to deliver 100's of packages in a single day than for 100's of individual people to spend an hour each going to/from a store, and even worse for congestion if even more than a few are taking individual vehicles.
The problem is parking. And the solution is obvious: multiple truck-length parking spaces along each and every block, for exclusive use by delivery vehicles, car ride services waiting for pickup, and moving vans. Which, logistically, would be relatively trivial to implement -- just painted lines and signs. Street parking needs to be reprioritized for the needs of 2019, not 1950.
It's insane and irresponsible the article doesn't even suggest street-level fixes like this, and instead seems to imply that the problem is with irresponsible/unconstrained trucking/deliveries.
Most misleading quote of the article: "“What percent of your deliveries are truly urgent — 5 percent or 2 percent?” said Mr. Holguín-Veras, the Rensselaer professor."
What has urgency got to do with it? Whether my package gets delivered in 1 day or 7 days, it doesn't change the number of trucks on the road. And if it's truly urgent, then that's when I'm running to the store, not ordering a package. Sheesh.