Microhubs Pilot Program

Online comments: 8

• Martha Bush

  Please consider the families who live next to the proposed microhub locations and strongly limit the modes of transportation permitted for distribution. ‘Sustainable modes of transportation’, as defined in the proposed rule, could include tall and powerful vehicles with substantial blindspots. The permitted modes of transportation should be required to also be safe for pedestrians. Neighborhoods will not want these microhubs if nearby residents are threatened, injured, or killed by its drivers. Please limit the distribution vehicles to bicycles and handcarts with strict requirements for driver safety. Thank you

  Comment added September 18, 2024 10:55am

• Armando A Crescenzi

  As a service-disabled veteran, duly licensed to vend food and merchandise,
  I must assert that the Microhub Program should include provisions for vendors who are veterans with service-connected injuries.
  The streets and sidewalks are have become very inhospitable, especially for disabled veterans. One way the City can honor its obligation to veterans is to set aside storage space and commissary space at each of the 20 Microhubs, for those disabled veterans who street vend, to include commissary space for our food carts.

  Thank you,

  Armando A. Crescenzi
  Put Veterans First, Ltd.

  Comment added October 2, 2024 12:25pm

• Ali

  Establishing microhubs means that NYC is providing unfair advantage to ecommerce/Amazon/corporations – and not helping local stores.
  Establishing microhubs means NYC is encouraging residents to use ecommerce – instead of shopping locally.

  In the meantime, NYC has done nothing to help local shops and businesses which have been suffering from high rent, ecommerce competition, street vendor competition and crime.

  Also ecommerce is wasteful and bad for the environment.
  NYC should be taxing ecommerce – not encouraging ecommerce and not helping ecommerce (with microhubs as a faux “green solution”)

  Comment added October 6, 2024 3:20pm

• Jess

  My understanding of this is that the City of New York is encouraging the use of cargo bikes/ebikes for delivery of ecommerce to individuals.

  How is the City of New York going to ensure worker protection for workers doing this?
  Workers bicycling around in rain or snow or heat?
  Even though these are “e” vehicles, some physical ability is needed to do this job.
  Will the City of New York require companies to provide health insurance, periodic breaks, bathrooms?

  Driving a truck is not easy but at least drivers are not out in the snow or heat and there are laws, OSHA rules to try to protect truck drivers.

  Not understanding how the City of New York can promote a program that does not ensure worker protection?

  Rich New Yorkers get to stay at home and get their stuff delivered – by low-paid workers who are out in the heat or cold and no protections.

  The City needs to explain.

  Comment added October 8, 2024 8:49pm

• Matt Townsend

  The idea of a microhub under the BQE between Washington Avenue and Hall Street in Clinton Hill is an absolutely ridiculous idea for a number of reasons.

  Let’s start with a review, two years ago the neighborhood lost over 80 parking spots under the BQE when NYC DOT gave the two-block stretch under the BQE between Washington Avenue and Clinton Avenue to Lyft for their Citi Bike hub. The hub looks like a bunker with their jersey barriers, chain link fence and opaque wind screen, all topped by barbed wire. Doesn’t really enhance the neighborhood in any manner whatsoever.

  Then, last year, a shelter for up to 4,000 migrants opened on Hall Street. That’s a LOT of people for one neighborhood to absorb. The HUGE influx of people has resulted in more trash on our streets and sidewalks, along with more traffic. There’s also been an increase in petty crime, which is one of the reasons why Lyft had to fortify their Citi Bike hub.

  Recently we learned that at the same time as the microhub is going to be going in, and more parking spots are going to be taken away, NYC DOT is going to start a reconfiguration of the intersection at Grand Avenue and Park Avenue that will take away even MORE parking spots for neighborhood residents. When will it end?

  The desired location of a microhub under the BQE between Washington Avenue and Hall Street in Clinton Hill makes no sense from the standpoint of there being NO bicycle infrastructure on Washington Avenue, Hall Street or Park Avenue. (Transferring packages to cargo bikes is supposed to be one of the benefits of the microhub.) However, there IS a small degree of bicycle infrastructure on Vanderbilt Avenue and Clermont Avenue that connect with the protected bike lane on Flushing Avenue.

  Furthermore, the population density of Clinton Hill is much lower than it is in Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO or downtown Brooklyn. Put the microhub in a location that will be much more beneficial for locations with a higher population or that have easier access for trucks and bicycles, like in the Navy Yard.

  Comment added October 10, 2024 8:30pm

• MA Lee

  NYC should not be helping Amazon ecommerce at all.
  Regarding “microhubs” specifically:

  1. DOT should not be developing “microhubs” in residential neighborhoods.

  2. How will DOT ensure that cargobike workers will obey traffic rules and stop at red lights? It is already dangerous for pedestrians because most bicyclists – especially Citibike riders – ignore traffic rules, go through red lights, go the wrong way.
  (DOT has done nothing to to ensure that bicyclists (pedal and ebike) follow rules. In fact, though bicyclists behave badly and dangerously, DOT keeps rewarding them with more bike lanes)

  3. What is DOT’s liability for accidents involving cargobikes?

  4. Per another comment, what is DOT doing to require basic health/safety protection for people doing Amazon delivery by bicycle?

  Comment added October 13, 2024 8:52am

• Michael Sutherland (Open Plans)

  Open Plans writes in regard to the proposed microhub pilot program. The expansion of e-commerce has resulted in an influx of delivery vehicles in our city. Microhubs are an important tool to alleviate the stress that large commercial vehicles place on our streets; they create emissions, traffic, and potentially endanger road users. We support sustainable microhubs, and emphasize the importance of expanding micromobility infrastructure to handle an influx of cargo bike usage, requiring the use of micromobility options in on-street microhub zones, and ensuring the pedestrian experience is preserved around sites. Our detailed comments on these points and others are attached.

  Comment attachment
  10-17-24-DOT-Hearing-Open-Plans-Testimony.pdf

  Comment added October 16, 2024 11:41am

• Kevin Garcia

  The Last-Mile Coalition respectfully submits the following comments on the New York City Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposal to amend Section 4-08 of the Traffic Rules to establish and implement a permit for the use of microhubs as part of a pilot program mandated by Local Law 166 of 2021 to aid in congestion reduction and increase freight sustainability. While we appreciate the efforts of DOT to combat the negative environmental and safety effects of truck deliveries, we have several concerns regarding the equitable implementation of this program.

  Microhubs represent a crucial strategy for addressing the impacts of last-mile warehouses and the e-commerce industry; however, several considerations must be addressed to ensure this program benefits all communities equitably, particularly environmental justice communities.

  Comment attachment
  2024.10.17-Last-Mile-Coalition-Comments-for-NYC-DOT-Microhubs-Rules.pdf

  Comment added October 17, 2024 2:49pm