Car-Share Companies Will Take Over 300 NYC Parking Spots

NEW YORK, NY — Car-share companies will take over more than 300 parking spaces in New York City in an effort to expand access to their services. City agencies have designated 285 public parking spots and 24 spaces at public housing developments across every borough but Staten Island for cars owned by Zipcar and Enterprise CarShare, city officials announced Thursday.

The two-year pilot program aims to help the environment, give residents of transit-starved neighborhoods another way to get around, and reduce the number of cars on city streets. Research shows that up to 20 cars are sold or never bought for every car-share vehicle that's made available, Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said.

"If this works we’re going to take it citywide in a very aggressive way," de Blasio said.

Signs have been posted claiming the 230 reserved curbside spaces in 14 neighborhoods for the companies. The program also includes 55 spots at public parking garages and two dozen spots across 11 New York City Housing Authority complexes.

Zipcar and Enterprise CarShare rent cars in cities across the nation for an hourly or daily fee that includes gas and insurance costs.

Cars are slated to be available for rent on Monday. The NYPD will ticket and tow cars that take their spots after a two-week grace period, Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said.

More than half of New York City's households don't own a car. Those who do have one spend about $9,000 a year on car-related costs, Trottenberg said.

Participating in the city's program will require the companies to bring cars to neighborhoods they didn't serve before, city officials said. Zipcar will also waive fees and offer discounts to NYCHA residents and New Yorkers with IDNYC cards.

The City Council passed legislation last year requiring the Department of Transportation to run the car-share pilot program. It aims to serve New Yorkers who only use their cars occasionally and those in areas with few transit options who may not want the expense of owning a car full time, Trottenberg said.

Zipcar and Enterprise pay a paltry licensing fee of $765 for the spaces and the regular monthly fees for the municipal lots, transportation officials said.

City officials defended the arrangement as a public service that will expand the city's portfolio of transportation options at no cost to the taxpayer.

"While we wait for better A train service, this pilot will open up options for residents who rely on public transportation to reach jobs, healthcare and other essential services throughout the city," Councilman Donovan Richards, a Democrat from southeast Queens, said in a statement.

Similar programs in other cities have helped take cars off the road, city officials said. That could reduce polluton and ease the citywide problem of traffic congestion.

But program could make it even tougher for some New Yorkers with cars to find parking on the street.

Most of the curbside spaces will be in zones previously governed by alternate-side parking rules, where residents would have to move their cars for weekly street cleaning, Trottenberg said.

"It’s a valuable commodity they are handing over to a private, profit-making company," John Corlett, the legislative committee chairman for the American Automobile Association, told The New York Times.

City Councilman Mark Levine, though, argued that the city is already giving away that "precious public real estate."

"It’s being used by one family with one car, and now we can have 50 or 70 families using it and that serves a higher purpose," Levine said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the licensing fee the companies are paying to use the parking spaces. It is $765, not $785.

(Lead image: A Zipcar sits in a Manhattan parking lot in June 2010. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)