It’s Raining Parking Tickets in New York’s Midtown as Police Enforce New Traffic Rules

Parking in Manhattan is difficult enough for limousine, truck and delivery drivers. But they faced an additional challenge this week when New York City rolled out new regulations in the heart of Midtown.

Parking and loading is now prohibited on both sides of most blocks between Sixth Avenue and Madison Avenue from 45th Street to 50th Street during morning and evening rush hours, according to a new regulation, which began April 16.

The six-month pilot program, called Clear Curbs, is one of several programs launched by the city to combat congestion.

In the first three days of the program, officers issued 3,000 tickets and towed 36 vehicles in the area, according to the New York Police Department.

Among the biggest casualties of the blitz were companies whose drivers had to leave their vehicle to make deliveries. Parcel carriers reported calling in extra staff to stay with trucks or having to park outside the enforcement zone and haul packages for several blocks along crowded sidewalks.

In principle, the regulations were meant to keep lanes clear. In practice, when officers moved a line of cars, they were replaced minutes later by new vehicles or by the same vehicles that simply circled the block.

Last fall, Mr. de Blasio unveiled a raft of traffic-easing measures to be rolled out this year. They include beefing up enforcement of block-the-box rules at dozens of busy intersections and the creation of continuous empty curbside lanes across key Midtown cross streets.

The new rush-hour parking regulations initiative was introduced during the second half of March in heavily congested sections of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and Roosevelt Avenue in Queens.

So far, the police department says it has issued more than 2,500 summonses and towed more than 230 vehicles in those boroughs as a result of the initiative. Merchants and their suppliers say it is hurting business.

The dollar amount of the summonses: $115.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

{Matzav.com}