NYC crushes double parking with Operation Move-Along

March 14, 2014

Discovering a perfect parking spot in the city without double parking is like beating level 361 in Candy Crush. You need risk, luck, and a few extra lifetimes. Once you get up at a horrible hour, manage your commute and dodge rogue jay-walking pedestrians, then you get to find a parking spot. In some busy areas, finding a spot is nearly impossible, so drivers making short-term stops created their own solution: double parking.

In most areas that aren’t New York, double parking means lazily sliding over 2 or even 3 marked spots at a Target. In the city, on the other hand, it means parking alongside a row of parallel parked cars, blocking them in for a little while.

Now, if you’re tired of circling for a spot and decide to block someone else in? It might earn you a $115 fine.

NYPD released a no double parking flyer on their twitter page earlier this week. From NYPDNews.

As part of Mayor De Blasio’s “Vision Zero” plan, New York Daily News reported that starting March 17^th, police will be less forgiving of even brief double parking infractions. They are, however, offering a heads-up to local residents before the ticketing onslaught begins.

Vision Zero’s focus is a push to reduce traffic fatalities. Operation Move-Along will hit hard in areas like Washington Heights and Mott Haven in the Bronx. Double parking causes potentially dangerous congestion, especially when emergency vehicles are on the move. And pedestrians have a harder time crossing the street — whether or not there’s a walk sign — when double-parked cars block their sight lines.

The beginning of this operation includes targeting one specific corridor in each borough. Some criticism of the new plan points out that the city seems to pick out certain lower-income areas in the boroughs, which also have limited space and fewer parking spots.

Double parking is so familiar in the Bronx that residents, business owners and truck drivers think the increased ticketing plan could either be ineffective or potentially bad for business. As Israel Ramos told NYDN, “Our trucks are afraid to come and deliver merchandise.” Ramos owns Lefty’s Department store where NYDN saw a truck getting ticketed while delivering to Ramos’ store.

If the operation is serious, drivers in violation-heavy areas will either have to find another option to get to work or find someplace else to park. This could catch the eye of city planners or mark an entry for garage owners, provided they could find the space to build one.

A double parked delivery truck blocks in…another delivery truck. From Eric in DUB.

Is double parking worth it? Well, depends who you are. If you’re a driver making a quick stop or dropping off a delivery, double parking in neighborhoods with limited spots saves you quite a bit of endless circling, or daydreaming of a day when you finally get to ditch your car or can afford to have someone else ferry you around.

If you would never dream of doing such a thing, and you’re a continual victim of getting blocked in just when it’s time for you to go — the increased regulation might seem like a blessing. Either way, it is the law. So park at your own risk.