NYC CARSHARE OVERVIEW Video courtesy of NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)

In response to some inquiries about the City’s permanent car share program, the following is a summary of the history of the initiative.

Starting in 2018, New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) launched a citywide carshare pilot program in accordance with Local Law 47 of 2017 and Local Law 50 of 2017, designating over 280 parking spaces for carshare vehicles. Carsharing is a service that gives members access to an automobile for short-term use, usually by the hour, or day, at a cost that includes maintenance. Parking spaces were located in municipal parking lots and on streets in select neighborhoods.

With cars parked in publicly accessible neighborhood locations across the city, members could reserve vehicles entirely via smartphone, and then just walk up to a car and drive away, returning later to the same reserved spot. The pilot designated 230 on-street parking spaces in 14 pilot zones and 55 parking spaces in municipal parking facilities for use by participating carshare companies.

The Bronx location for the pilot zone was in Parkchester and the Bronx locations for the municipal parking facilities were on Belmont Avenue, White Plains Road, and Jerome Avenue and 190th Street. Although car sharing services existed in New York City for decades, the pilot marked the first time that DOT provided dedicated “carshare parking only” spaces at the curb and in its municipal parking facilities through a permit system.

The goals of the carshare pilot were to expand access to carshare, including to neighborhoods underserved by carshare services and to low-and moderate-income New Yorkers; and analyze the impact of carshare on car ownership, total vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and on-street parking availability.

Based on data from the first two years of the pilot, DOT concluded that the carshare parking pilot program achieved was successful and effective. DOT officials said they found that spaces were well used, provided a valuable service to New Yorkers without cars, expanded access to carshare to a more diverse set of neighborhoods, led carshare members to delay purchasing a personal vehicle, and supported the City’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. Additionally, DOT found that siting carshare spaces in pairs allowed optimal utilization rates and more unique users to use the service.

As a result, DOT officials said the agency planned the establishment of a permanent program. In October 2021, as reported, DOT held a public hearing on permanent car share rules. The proposed rules aimed to establish and provide guidelines for the implementation of a permanent carshare parking program. One amendment to the DOT Traffic Rules proposed was to repeal and re-promulgate existing paragraph (6) of Section 4-08(o) from the relevant law, describing the permitting process for the permanent carshare program.

Another was to amend Sections 4-08(i) and 4-08(o)(2) of the relevant law in relation to municipal parking facilities. Specifically, among other things, the proposed rule was to establish permitting procedures and requirements, establish criteria for designating carshare parking spaces, and provide criteria for allocating carshare parking spaces to participating carshare organizations.

In November 2022, DOT unveiled plans for two carsharing companies, Getaround and Zipcar, to establish four carsharing sites in the Northwest Bronx. The planned sites, at Cambridge Avenue between West 235th Street and West 236th Street in Riverdale, Arlington Avenue between West 227th Street and West 230th Street in Spuyten Duyvil, Manhattan College Parkway between West 242nd Street and Manhattan College Parkway on the Fieldston / Kingsbridge border and West 236th Street between Irwin Avenue and Tibbett Avenue in Kingsbridge, came with two parking spaces.

As reported, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) outlined his concerns at the time that according to DOT, the City was bound by case law to only accept $475 per year for the set of parking spaces, rates which he said were far below the market level for parking in New York City. “It is my understanding that DOT is looking to advocate for state legislative changes, which I am eager to examine and improve,” Dinowitz said at the time.

He continued, “In my opinion, our curb space should be worth far more than $237.50 per year per parking space. We should be generating enough money to invest in things like improved accessibility on our sidewalks and new curbs. We should not be in the business of trading our public space for pennies on the dollar all while giving private companies free advertising.” He encouraged people to reach out to his office with comments on the matter.

In February, DOT announced the expansion of its citywide curbside carshare program to increase access “to convenient carshare, after a successful 5-year pilot [had] proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and personal car ownership.” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and DOT officials said DOT would commence the installation of new signage to demarcate the first 80 new, dedicated curbside parking spaces for carshare service across Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens, with an explicit focus on equitable access.

They said DOT’s ambitious program goal for 2023 was to supplement the then 230 on-street parking spaces with several hundred more, working with the three carshare companies, Zipcar, Getaround, and Truqit, to deploy their shared vehicles at new locations.

“We now have the proof that convenient access to carshare frees New Yorkers from the burden of car ownership – while helping to fight climate change. Soon more New Yorkers will have access to a vehicle when required – no need to sign an expensive lease or to fret about finding a parking space,” said Rodriguez. “With thanks to the Mayor for his support, we are excited to build on the successes of our pilot, cutting down greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled, while supporting efficient use of space at the curb. We encourage New Yorkers to give this great program a try!”

Information on precise site location installations can be found on DOT’s website. DOT officials said they were conducting extensive outreach, taking feedback from community boards and making adjustments where applicable. Once all sites are installed, they said an up-to-date map of locations will be available at nyc.gov/carshare.

They said new locations are being selected by participating carshare companies based upon knowledge of customer demand and household demographic data. They said such locations must also conform with criteria set forth by DOT to ensure the program reaches underserved New Yorkers in Equity Zone Areas, defined as Tier 1 Priority Investment Areas (PIAs) in the New York City Streets Plan. DOT officials said they engaged all community boards covered by the initial expansion and incorporated feedback where possible.

DOT officials said the carshare program designates dedicated parking spaces for the use of eligible carshare organizations (CSOs). These parking spaces are located at curbside locations and in municipal parking facilities citywide. According to DOT, carshare members may reserve a vehicle, walk up to the car at their reservation time, and drive away, returning later to the same reserved spot.

DOT officials said New Yorkers must apply directly to a company for carshare membership and provide information such as a driver license and form of payment. All companies are required to provide a vehicle with professionally installed hand controls to any carshare member within 48 hours of the request.

According to DOT, each participating company offers various discounts and first-time driver credits including discounts for NYCHA residents and SNAP Program participants. Applicants can visit each company’s website for more information.

They said the curb regulation “OTHERS NO STANDING” means that non-carshare vehicles may not stand at this location. Any vehicle other than the designated carshare vehicle may not wait or stop to load or unload packages or merchandise at the curb, although a driver may stop to expeditiously drop off or pick up passengers.

Examples of on-street carshare space signage

Source: DOT

DOT officials said if non-carshare vehicles are found in carshare parking spaces, the NYPD is authorized to ticket and tow illegally parked vehicles. Carshare companies are also authorized to relocate illegally parked vehicles to the nearest legal curbside space (at no charge to the car owner).

They added that alternate side parking regulations will not be applied to carshare parking spaces. Carshare companies are required to clean and maintain the space to the same frequency of adjacent alternate side parking regulations.

NYC Carshare Pilot Report

Roundtrip Carsharing in New York City: An Evaluation of a Pilot Program and System Impacts by Berkley Institute of Transportation Services

NYC Carshare Pilot First Year Progress Report

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