77th Street and 35th Avenue (QueensPost)
June 11, 2018 By Christian Murray
The city has set aside eight public parking spaces in Jackson Heights for a car-sharing program that launched last week.
The eight parking spots are in four locations and are reserved for the Department of Transportation’s car-share pilot that began on June 4. The pilot program will last for two years.
Jackson Heights is one of 14 citywide areas that will see a total of 230 on-street parking spaces taken for the pilot, which involves customers paying to use a car from either Enterprise or Zipcar for short-term use. Drivers who park their non-carshare vehicle in a car-share site will be subject to fines and towing, the city said.
The eight spots reserved in Jackson Heights are for Zipcar only. The four locations—with two spaces reserved at each—are located at the corner of 77th Street and 35th Avenue; 86th Street and 34 Avenue; 90th Street and 34th Avenue; and 89th Street and 37th Avenue.
Signs have gone up in the neighborhood making clear which spaces are for car-share vehicles. The signs state they are for ZipCar vehicles.
In addition to off-street parking, the city is also dedicating a total of 55 parking spaces at 17 DOT municipal parking sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. None of these spots are in Jackson Heights.
The city is also including some parking spots at NYCHA developments in the pilot program, with Zipcar teaming up with NYCHA to provide housing residents with a no-fee service for one year.
IDNYC cardholders also have access to a complimentary one year-membership to Zipcar, which includes a waived application fee and driving discounts.
In all, about 309 parking spaces will be dedicated to car sharing in the two-year pilot. Both companies are each paying a paltry $765 a year for access to all the off-street parking spots, and the regular fee for municipal spots.
The city said it is launching the pilot as a way to see if car sharing can relieve traffic congestion and provide a reliable and affordable travel alternative for New Yorkers living in transit deserts.
“For every vehicle in a car-share program, up to twenty households can forgo the need to own a car, fighting congestion and making our air cleaner,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement last month.
To use the car-share service in this pilot, customers can apply directly to Zipcar and/or Enterprise CarShare for membership. Pricing is between $8 to $18 the hour, with membership fees between $40 to $70 a year, the city said.
For more information on the pilot, include where the car-sharing sites are, visit the DOT’s CarShare portal.
77th Street and 35th Avenue (QueensPost)
