NEW YORK — New distribution centers aimed at curbing delivery truck traffic on New York City’s residential streets will open later this year, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.
“New Yorkers are receiving more deliveries than ever before, and we are pursuing creative ways to make these deliveries cleaner, safer, and more efficient by reducing the number of delivery trucks on our roads,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement.
The so-called “microhubs” will provide temporary parking for large delivery trucks and allow packages to be transferred to smaller, cleaner vehicles — such as cargo bicycles, electric vans, or even hand trucks — for delivery to residential customers, according to the DOT plan mandated by City Council legislation passed in 2021.
Reducing delivery trucks on city streets will make pedestrians and delivery workers safer and reduce emissions, DOT officials said.
Residential delivery traffic has spiked in the city since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a city Transportation Department report released Thursday.
In 2019, 60% of deliveries in New York City were made to commercial customers, with 40% of deliveries made directly to residents. But Transportation Department data show that some 80% of deliveries citywide are now made to residential addresses, the agency report says.
Over 80% of New Yorkers have had a package delivered to their home in the past week, the DOT says.
An agency spokesperson told the Daily News that the distribution hubs are expected to be built over the summer, with the goal of having at least one in operation by the fall. The department plans as many as 20 microhubs in a pilot program.
The locations for the hubs have not yet been determined, the spokesperson said, but the agency is looking to locate them close to established trucking routes and within reach of public transit and city bike lanes. Hubs are planned for Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.
The DOT has been developing the hubs in consultation with logistics and delivery firms, the spokesperson said. Those companies will continue to be responsible for the final leg of delivery under the microhub plan.
The department’s proposal acknowledges the high cost of New York City real estate among the challenges facing the plan — as well as the need to build out greater charging infrastructure for electric vans and cargo bicycles.
Additionally, state law currently caps the width of cargo bikes at 36 inches — a limitation Transportation Department officials have said they oppose.
A bill brought forth by state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) in January would increase the maximum allowable width of electrically-assisted cargo bikes to 48 inches in return for limiting their top speed to 12 mph and banning them from bike lanes in public parks. The legislation would also require those who pilot the larger powered cargo bikes to be insured.
Two earlier attempts to pass laws allowing larger electric cargo bikes failed to reach the governor’s desk.
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