You’re doing it right.
Scenes from the 1st Avenue Floating Parking Lane.
Saw the driver coming out of a building nearby and asked him how he has found dealing with the new traffic pattern so far.
He was new to this route, but, frankly, he said, “Look, I’ve got to make deliveries, ya know?” UPS doesn’t have a policy one way or another about eating parking tickets. He obviously tries to accommodate the other drivers, riders, and pedestrians, but a) has to deliver on time, and b) has to be conscious of his own safety on the occasion that he can’t pull up right to where he has to make deliveries, i.e. carrying or carting parcels across traffic, Frogger-style.
When the lanes were first introduced (and I imagine some consideration went into this beforehand), Caroline Samponaro, director of bicycle advocacy for Transportation Alternatives, said in an interview with The Villager that she “took the complaints from businesses as part of the process of change for the better.”
“These aren’t insurmountable challenges,” she said. “Sure, there are adjustments to be made, but in terms of getting business done, the city has a track record of working with businesses.” The system for truck deliveries might have to change, but according to Samponaro the inconvenience will be worth the improvement to the city. “Everyone’s adjusting when a street changes, but that doesn’t mean that the change is bad,” she said.
Was this just Pelosi-style “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it” lip service? Surely, “Things might have to change” is too vague to be actual policy. Has there been any follow-up study or brainstorming on solutions in the legislature? Police officers are already enforcing penalties. UPS can likely afford to digest a few extra tickets as the cost of doing business, but what about the smaller guys? Was there really not some consideration taken into how to deal with delivery trucks parking in or around the bike and/or bus lanes? No “five-minute” rule for trucks parking in the striped areas?
On that last point, local livable streets activist, Chris O’Leary, says “Let them park there,” suggesting that, for the likes of UPS at least, this is the best case scenario.
As long as they don’t, say, block a fire hydrant, what do you think, Neighborhood?
We’ve all got to share the road? There will have to be extenuating circumstances and exceptions to every rule? Cuff ‘em?
Feel free to reach out to Transportation Alternatives for their thoughts on the subject:
Transportation Alternatives
127 West 26th Street, Suite 1002
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-629-8080On the web
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