NEW YORK, July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Possibly the only bright spot in the over 2 years NYC has weathered the Covid pandemic, was the relaxation of Alternate Side Parking Rules. It was decided that less human activity meant less opportunity for the spread of the virus, so former Mayor DiBlasio effectively cut alternate side parking restrictions in half. This created the awkward situation that the Alternate Side Parking signs on the street did not accurately reflect the most current rules. For a brief moment in history, street sweeping and Alternate Side Parking was actually less than the signs overhead declared. The signs remained the same, which meant Motorists had to calculate the guidelines in the Mayor’s and the Dept of Sanitation’s announcements and then re-read the signs and situation on each block.
There was also a fair amount of ambiguity in the announcements. How is the average driver to know Commercial Zones from Residential Zones? One announcement mentioned Side Streets? Streets that run East-West? What about Avenues that intersect? What about Avenues that are zoned residential in some neighborhoods? Exactly how these temporary suspensions affected each block was a matter for interpretation. Numerous requests for clarification sent to the Dept of Sanitation by Parallel Spaces, the owner of the parkken app, went unanswered.
Residents and people in-the-know calculated the good news happily enough. It meant less frenetic moves of your car from side to side, less fuel consumption, less air pollution. Unfortunately, people not so familiar with Manhattan parking and the Mayoral edict didn’t always benefit because they didn’t hear about it or, when they did know, didn’t apply it correctly. To steer its users around these invisible curves the parkken app modified its CAN I PARK HERE interface to include the Alt Side reductions in both its Text and its Parking Gauge responses. A query for legal parking at a time and on a block selected would apply the appropriate Alt Side reductions in its Text answer as well as the Parking Gauge’s readouts of legal parking availability. As always the app’s trademark Clock Symbols on the Base Map continued to reflect what the signs on the street actually read. Not always perfect, but it did give its users all the information available.
Now that Mayor Adams has announced the return to full Alternate Side Parking rules, the parkken app will release iPhone and Android updates for the CAN I PARK HERE query response that will once again match the actual rules posted on the block. With the latest updates, the Parking Gauge 12-hour meter of potential free parking on the block and the Text Answer’s detailed description of where parking is legal will reflect the posted signs on high.
This update will include the latest changes in the street signs and the garage and lot listings as well as the pilot program for new Garage and Lot Coupons from participating Pay-Parking Facilities. Any Pay-Parking facility that offers a discount can advertise their coupons on parkken for free. Users of the parkken app can redeem them at those times you just have to park in a garage or lot.
The owner of parkken, Tom Hibbard comments, “We’re proud the parkken app offered a way to interpret the confusing temporary parking rules, and now will translate the actual signs again with our always free updates. Soon the app will display savings on that garage you just pulled into.”
A slideshow detailing the garage lot promotion can be found at parkken.com/Free-Ads.html. Parallel Spaces Maps, LLC can be contacted at (888) 775-7353.
SOURCE Parallel Spaces Maps, LLC
