On April 24, 2024, the New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced incentives to reduce truck deliveries during busy hours of the day in an effort to improve traffic safety, protect the environment, and combat daytime congestion and double-parking. DOT will donate $6 million to incentivize nighttime deliveries from 7 pm to 6 am through their Off-Hour-Delivery Program (OHD). The funding will be allocated through the US DOT’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program.
The program will fund tools and strategies to make overnight deliveries feasible for businesses including the installation of low-noise equipment for delivery, building security retrofits to enable unattended delivery, and safety equipment. Participating businesses will receive one-time payments for these tools. Specifically, the program is looking to help small businesses through financial barriers to transitioning to off-hour deliveries and navigating sustainable delivery options. The incentive program will be managed by Arcadis.
Currently the program includes businesses such as Just Salad, Wegmans, and Whole Foods Market. This spring, on June 3rd and 10th, there will be two information session ions to help businesses navigate the program. Please click here to fill out the form to attend.
Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said, “90 percent of everything in our city– our food and drink, our clothing and paper towels– comes in by truck. To decrease congestion on the roads, we have to get a handle on our deliveries. While we work to route deliveries into lower-emissions vehicles, we can make immediate inroads by spreading them out across the day– if we can encourage businesses to be open to pick them up. This program will go a long way towards helping businesses help our city, decreasing emissions, improving our air quality, and keeping our thoroughfares moving. This is a real win for New York.”
NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said, “New Yorkers are receiving more deliveries than ever before, and we are making them cleaner, safer, and more efficient. This incentive program will support local businesses and benefit all New Yorkers by reducing the number of delivery trucks on our roads during busy daytime hours.”
Zach Miller, director of Metro Region Operations at the Trucking Association of New York said, “Off-Hour Delivery incentives should help to reduce traffic at peak hours by incentivizing receivers to demand their freight when competition for street space lowers. Parking will be easier, the need to idle will be reduced, delivery costs will be reduced, and truck utilization will improve. In addition, professional truck drivers, who operate under federal hours-of-service regulations, should have a smoother work schedule. It’s a win-win program. An example of the kind of support the trucking industry needs to improve efficiency while still ensuring New Yorkers get their goods.”
By: Meg Beauregard (Meg is the CityLaw intern, and a New York Law School student, Class of 2024).
New York City Department of Transportation: “NYC DOT to Provide New Incentives to Reduce Truck Deliveries During Busiest Hours and Fight Congestion” (April 24, 2024).