Trafficking in Parking Tickets
The rooftop parking lot of the UPS service center on West Houston Street in Manhattan is convenient, accessible and free.
That's good, because the delivery truck drivers who report there every morning spend the rest of their time fighting traffic, maneuvering around illegally parked vehicles and plucking parking tickets off their windshields.
Finding a spot for a 20-foot delivery truck is always a little difficult, but the combination of narrow streets and tall buildings makes lower Manhattan one of the toughest places in the country, and increased security since Sept. 11 has only made the job more difficult.
Too often, drivers say they have no choice but to park illegally.
"Right now, I can't legally park here," said UPS driver Vinny Bonanno, as he leaned against a "No Standing 11 a.m. to 2 p.m." sign on William Street on a recent afternoon. "But what am I supposed to do? Park six blocks away?"
The four major package delivery companies – UPS, Federal Express, Airborne Express and DHL – paid nearly $7.3 million in parking tickets in New York City from June 2001 to this past July, according to city records. (Figures were not available for the U.S. Postal Service, which requires drivers to pay their tickets as individuals.)
At $2.6 million, UPS paid more than smaller competitors Airborne and DHL but significantly less than Federal Express. At $3.8 million, FedEx paid more than the other three major delivery companies combined. (Airborne paid $609,000; DHL paid $223,000.)
Federal Express spokeswoman Jennifer McGowan said drivers are instructed to adhere to city parking regulations whenever possible. She declined to speculate on why the Tennessee-based company paid more than its competitors.
"I'd like to think that it's because we have a lot more deliveries," she said.
(UPS delivers about 13.5 million packages nationwide daily. Federal Express delivers a little more than 4million. Neither company would disclose its figures for Manhattan alone.)
The delivery companies have tried a number of strategies to cope with the parking problem in Manhattan. The first is to reduce the number of trucks on the road. The U.S. Postal Service uses a system of green drop boxes for its 2,700 regular mail routes in Manhattan and the Bronx. After trucks drop the mail off in the morning, mail carriers deliver it door to door on foot.
Airborne maintains a fleet of almost 300 bicycle messengers in Manhattan, more than in any other U.S. city, spokesman Robert Mintz said. About 15 of those messengers use tricycles similar to those of ice-cream vendors, he said.
"The advantage of using foot couriers in Manhattan is that the situation is always changing," said Mintz, referring to the bicycle and tricycle fleet. "Whether there's a parade down Fifth Avenue or the president's in town, there's a host of situations where a portion of the city is closed and our customers can still conduct business."
For parcel deliveries, the Postal Service, Federal Express and UPS use the same basic strategy. Drivers park in a central location and use handcarts to make deliveries along their route, reducing the number of times a new spot has to be found.
Over the years, the routes that drivers cover have been reduced, and smaller service centers have been built in different areas of the city to reduce driving time. Many have been rerouted since Sept. 11 because certain areas of town, such as the blocks near the Port Authority and Grand Central Terminal, have cut down on illegal parking because of a fear of terrorism.
"Manhattan is a totally separate world," UPS spokesman Kevin Filipski said. "In most places, drivers go hundreds of miles a day because they're making stops all over Long Island or something. On Manhattan, they drive only three or four miles to the area they cover and then walk."
Bonanno, who recently retired after working for UPS for 25 years, recalled that when he first started making deliveries he had more than 120 stops on his route, which covers the area just north of Wall Street. About a decade ago, his route was cut to around 50, meaning he has to find about five fewer parking spots each day.
For the most part, Bonanno said he tries to park in "Loading Zone" areas set aside for delivery trucks, but he often finds them occupied by illegally parked city-owned vehicles.
"We had a car right here last week," he said, pointing to the curb on William Street not far from Wall Street. "It was here three days and it never moved."
Sometimes he said he has to double-park next to a city vehicle in a delivery zone. Other times, he said he will park on the other side of the street, with two tires up on the sidewalk so that traffic can pass. Both are illegal and usually result in a ticket.
"There are days where I'll end up with eight or 10 tickets just because of the area I'm working," he said.
When all else fails, delivery companies will often fight the parking tickets. They have some success with double-ticketing, when a truck has been ticketed for the same offense twice by different officers. If a driver gets a ticket for parking in a crosswalk, bus stop or in front of a fire hydrant, UPS will not fight the ticket, however.
"They pass those tickets on to the driver," said Bonanno, a volunteer firefighter in Breezy Point. "That is a no-no, period."
