» Park It! Blog

May 4, 2012
Parking_Garage_Autostadt_Germany

Volkswagen's Autostadt—an automotive-themed amusement park—includes a car museum, driving courses, car-factory tours and these 20-story car silos.

When you think of a parking garage, you probably don’t think about much except for the entrance, how easy it is to find a spot, and how much the parking costs. But hold your horses, because Popular Mechanics magazine has just featured the World’s 18 Strangest Parking Garages. These Strange Parking Garages feature:

  • Car Museum
  • Retail shops
  • Rooftop restaurant
  • Skating rink
  • Concert hall

See more fantastical garages.  Read more…

Filed under: Parking News — Tags: , — mtohn @ 5:09 pm
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Any parking garage we’ve used or heard about charges customers based on how much time the vehicle is in the parking garage. In a NYC parking garage, for example, you can pay an expensive per hour rate, a lower rate if you enter and exit by particular times (early or late in the day), or a flat rate for 6, 12, or 24 hours at some NYC parking garages.

But a Boston parking garage is taking a new approach. This parking lot is charging customers based on how much their vehicle impacts the parking lot and the world around us. For example:

  • Vehicles that get less than 15 miles per gallon will pay a 10% surcharge,
  • Hybrid or electric vehicles will get a 10% discount.

According to www.fastcoexist.com, ‘Scott Oran of Dinosaur Capital Partners (the company behind the lot) rationalized the move to the Boston Herald: “A big SUV has a cost both in terms of the environment and in terms of being a heavier vehicle that causes more wear and tear on our lot,” he said. “We think that should be reflected in our price.” ‘

Filed under: NYC Parking,Parking News — Tags: , — mtohn @ 11:37 am
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We just found out some interesting statistics about NYC:

  • 12,750 miles of sidewalk,
  • 1,153 NYC sidewalk cafes,
  • 150 miles of sidewalks taken up by construction sites,
  • 8.3 million residents,
  • 50.2 million tourists annually,
  • 10% increase in NYC pedestrian traffic at major intersections since 2007,
  • 5,100 food cart permits,
  • 6,892 permits for ‘sidewalk sheds’ — for newsstands, shoe shines, etc.,
  • 12,720 sidewalk pay phones,

Thanks to Crains New York Business for these statistics.

Filed under: Visiting NYC — mtohn @ 11:16 am
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NYC_Taxi,_green‘Taxi Yellow’ is a color we all know because it’s what we see on the 13,000 NYC taxis driving mostly in Manhattan. But make way for ‘Big Apple Green Taxi’, which is the color of licensed NYC taxis that will primarily be in the NYC boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

Governor Cuomo signed legislation in January 2012 allowing the sale of NYC taxi licenses for street hails in NYC outer boroughs, and NYC’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) approved rules for this new fleet in mid-May 2012. After May 29, 2012, NYC will accept applications for the first 6,000 licenses, with another 12,000 licenses becoming available over two years. According to The New York Times, 20% of the new Big Apple taxis will have to be wheelchair-accessible.

Not everyone loves the new green. It’s also being described as ‘mint’, ‘warm wasabi’, and ‘big, pastry green.’ Personally, it seems most like ‘sea foam green’, ‘Crayola lime’, or ‘celadon’ to us.

Filed under: Taxis — Tags: , — mtohn @ 10:43 am
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April 30, 2012

A few months ago I wrote how I had received, then beat, a NYC parking ticket. Parking Today magazine was intrigued by my story and asked me to write an article with ways that cities and towns could help both residents and visitors not get parking violations. And if someone did get a ticket, how to ensure that the regulations and signage were so clear that the ticket couldn’t be dismissed.

Some of my recommendations included:

  1. Place the signs so people know which part of the street that sign refers to,
  2. Create regulations that make sense,
  3. Have clear and simple language on the signs,
  4. Make sure the signposts are sturdy and installed well enough so the wind can’t turn around the sign,
  5. traffic enforcement must submit a ticket that is correctly filled out, and
  6. fix all broken parking meters.

The response to my article has been great! Read the full article here.

Filed under: NYC Street Parking,Parking News,Parking Tickets — mtohn @ 11:30 am
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We adore Sam Schwartz, aka ‘Gridlock Sam’. He’s a one man army dedicated to making NYC driving and traveling a pleasant experience, which means less traffic, happy drivers who don’t honk the horn, and a fantastic public transportation system that runs on time and gets you where you want to go.

How is he doing it? All on his own time, this owner of an internationally recognized transportation and engineer firm has designed a plan to bring peace to the roads and underground of NYC. The plan includes:

  • $5 toll on all bridges and tunnels coming into Manhattan below 60th St to spread out the congestion on the currently free bridges — Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Queensboro/59th St Bridge — and the currently tolled crossings — Queens Midtown Tunnel, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel,
  • $5 charge to enter Manhattan below 60th St if you haven’t used any of the tolled crossings, and
  • $1 surcharge on all taxi trips below 60th St.

During his career as NYC’s Traffic Commissioner, Sam saw it all. Read more about Sam’s career and his love for NYC.

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April 27, 2012

Ferrari in NYCFerraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis all look great in the movies when you see someone driving up Madison or through NYC’s Times Square, but anyone who lives in NYC knows that just isn’t happening. Not when you have 13,000 NYC taxis, thousands of delivery trucks, buses, and private vehicles all trying to get somewhere fast.

That’s what Charles McGrath found out when he rented a Ferrari and took it for a spin in NYC. Things we learned:

  • Ferraris don’t do well with potholes and metal grates,
  • A 24 hour rental will cost you $1,100,
  • You can drive a good stretch without hitting a traffic light on Lafayette St north of Houston,

Read more about the ups and downs of driving a Ferrari in NYC.

Filed under: Driving & Traffic News,Getting Around NYC — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 4:20 pm
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Streetline NYC parkingYour dreams of finding better and/or cheaper NYC parking faster is one step closer to coming true. Streetline, a company we’ve written about before, just got a $25 million line of credit from Citibank.  Here’s the scoop:

When Streetline moves in to a town or NYC, it puts sensors in every NYC street parking space. When you park, a real-time database knows that space is occupied. Ideally, you can register your car and pay remotely, and even add more time to the meter up  to the maximum time you can park at that NYC parking meter.

All that real-time data will tell the city where there are available spaces to park on the street, and where the streets are full. The city can raise or lower the street parking meter rates to balance out the supply and demand so there is an occupancy rate of 70%, or 80%, or the level that is appropriate to make sure that you can find a parking space. Kind of cool, huh?

The next step is to involve NYC parking garages, so you can choose to search for street parking or get a guaranteed space in a NYC parking garage. It might cost more that parking on the street, but you’ll save heaps of time circling for a spot.

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April 20, 2012

PayLock_Smart_Boot NYC parkingBad news if you have $350 or more in NYC Parking Tickets. NYC has hired PayLock to put new-age tire boots, called Smart Boot, on any car with more than $350 in NYC parking violations.

According to the NY Daily News, here’s the scoop on how much it will cost you in time and money to shake the Smart Boot.

  1. A city marshal will be deployed with teams of PayLock employees. The marshal will verify that a car has more than $350 in judgments, then authorize PayLock to boot it.
  2. The scofflaw can either call a toll-free number and pay his bill immediately by credit or debit card or go to a city payment center to pay the tickets and fees in cash, and get the code to self-release the boot. 
  3. A motorist who owes $355 in parking tickets, for example, will have to pay an additional $180 for Paylock’s “boot fee,” $70 for Read more…
Filed under: Parking Tickets — Tags: , , — mtohn @ 12:11 pm
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www.cityvalet.comIf you don’t want to pay for an expensive limousine or risk not getting a NYC taxi to the airport, City Valet is your answer.

City Valet has licensed, insured professional drivers who will drive you where you want to go — in your very own car. It’s great for:

  • airport drop-off and pick-up,
  • showing clients around the city,
  • bringing your car in for a service or inspection,
  • driving to your weekend or summer house,
  • running errands, Read more…
Filed under: NYC Driving,Parking & Driving Advice — Tags: , — mtohn @ 9:47 am
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