This guest post was written by Ashley C. Light edits have been made for clarity.
I hardly ever drove in the city until I made the decision this year during COVID to drive my daughter to school. That’s when I discovered the headache of dealing with garbage trucks. Is there a reason that rush hour is the time these trucks service one way, one lane streets? I have no idea, but there has to be a reason, right?
Being stuck behind a garbage truck for upwards of 20 minutes when scrambling to make it to school on time is frustrating as a driver, it’s frustrating as a passenger in a vehicle (just ask my daughter!), and I’m sure it must be frustrating for the workers on the garbage trucks who are constantly being honked and yelled at. It also poses a safety hazard for all the pedestrians trying to get where they are going amongst the frustrated drivers.
If you have lived in NYC for any amount of time you know garbage is a problem. And it is a big problem when garbage piles up on the sidewalk. I remember when I moved here almost 12 years ago, someone told me to always avoid the garbage bags on the sidewalks. All it takes is one rat running between your legs to make that piece of advice stick in your head. Having sanitation workers remove the trash that piles up on the street is a vital part of keeping the city livable. I’m just trying to get my head around why the garbage trucks come out at the most inconvenient time during the morning rush.
Read more guest posts | Submit a guest post
If cars, cabs, ambulances, fire trucks and delivery drivers all need to share the road with garbage and recycling trucks, why can’t we come up with a way to make it easier on everyone?
I have an app on my phone that will tell me exactly when the next M86 bus will arrive or the next B train will pull into the station, but there is no way for me to know that there is a recycling truck picking up 3 refrigerators on top of their normal pickup on the one-lane street of my daughter’s school right at drop off time.
Wouldn’t it be so helpful to know where the garbage trucks are and which way they are headed while navigating the Upper West Side?
New York’s infrastructure was not designed for our 21st century lives. And like many other things, huge sweeping changes can’t be made over night. But small changes – like an app that could help drivers avoid garbage trucks – could make a world of difference.
In a future NYC, it would be wonderful if public transit was so clean, safe and reliable that fewer people would need to drive. But until that happens … lets work together to make navigating the city streets more pleasant.
The solution is simple: Cross town on the major streets and drive the side streets that last block. On the UWS the major cross streets are never more than 4 – 5 blocks out of the way.
And take a good look before turning on to any side street.
Thanks for stating the incredibly obvious to this incredibly dense New Yorker of all of 12 years.
Dense… ? I don’t know that this author is dense at all. It sounds like there is more thought in the article than a one line attack. And I think there is merit to the highlighted issue.
Hmmm… let’s see between W.96th and W.86th… isn’t that 10 blocks?! Or maybe I am just another incredibly dense New Yorker … but I am lifelong … more than 50 years living in this city. So… I’m not a newbie. I’m also curious what happens when you have travelled to the “final block” and you find the truck is just at the beginning of the block and your destination is past the middle of the block. If your driving your elderly sick parent somewhere, or if your parent is in a taxi alone, I guess they get out and walk alone to their destination. Because there’s also no where to pull over while you walk someone to a building on that block. Do you know why there’s now where to pull over? Do you know why the sanitation trucks have to block the street? Because for all the shade and disgust most UWS residents have for automobiles in their neighborhood, there is no parking ever available, the garages are always full, and they can’t even be bothered to move their cars on ASP days except to double park on the opposite side of the street. Unfortunately Jon, your solution, isn’t really solving anything, it’s shortsighted, and doesn’t account for the actual troubles a blocked street causes.
The “simple” solutions is to build more reasonable priced parking garages and ban long term street parking to open up the streets.
Have you considered biking your kid to school instead of driving? We have 2 kids and a cargo bike and through the pandemic I even began shuttling a friend’s child to school just so I’d have a reason to get out in the morning. Check out my wife’s IG account cargobikemomma. While garbage trucks are extremely dangerous to ride near, We are never delayed by them.
I drive my kids to the UWS every day from the Bronx. I work there. I shop and eat at your local places. The tuition I pay helps pay the teachers and staff who also shop and eat there. The children often fundraisers for local charities like the bird sanctuary. And I am often stuck behind sanitation (NYDS) trucks. Biking is not an option for me or for many other families for many many reasons. This city is supposed to be an example of diversity and inclusion and yet sometimes we are all so narrow in our thinking that we become guilty of excluding people even if it’s unintentional. We should be mindful that solutions to problems aren’t based on a narrow view of the issue.
Some how I don’t think private garbage trucks (used for business and construction waste) are going to be rushing to sign up for the tracking software.
Apparently the author doesn’t know the difference between City trash collection and private hauling.
Manhattan wasn’t designed for one to drive one’s child to school either.
Actually, refrigerators and furniture are picked up by NYC Department of Sanitation. They pick up anything if it’s disposed of properly. If you go online to their site you can find the extensive list of what they haul away and how to dispose of it. Not to mention those white NYC sanitation trucks are the only ones that color in the city and that’s on purpose to avoid confusion. These NYDS trucks are already tracked for liability, insurance, and employment reasons. They have the tracking already installed.
I agree that Manhattan wasn’t designed for all this traffic but it also wasn’t designed for all these high rises and all these residents. It want designed for all these underground railroads. It was mostly farmland. But even farmers and politicians need to get out of the city and need to have goods delivered as close to their doors as possible. And so we got bridges and tunnels and subways and railroads and ferries … which is only going to lead to more people. To say the city wasn’t designed to drive your kid to school is crazy. Research how the children of the affluent mansion owners got to school. Do you think they walked to the private prep schools? How did the wealthy get to church or to galas? They were driven even if on a horse and buggy. But I will agree that Manhattan wasn’t designed for certain things …. like for having double parked delivery trucks on either side of a three lane avenue like Columbus. Leaving one lane to get through. I don’t think that was the intention when the city planners decided on a three lane avenue with two lanes on either side for parking. So instead of thinking what the city wasn’t designed for, and trying to revert it to its past, (a vast farmland with no high rises and some tenement housing downtown), why don’t we applaud people like this author who are trying to employ technology to improve the quality of life in a city that is ever evolving and where more and more high rises continue to be built.
You utterly missed my point.
First, I assure you restaurants don’t request that the city pick up old refrigerators. Private haulers remove them. In fact many residences use private haulers to get rid of refrigerators, no need to register the disposal with the city.
And second, I specified that residences’ waste, which would include furniture, is picked up by the city.
No, office furniture IS NOT picked up by the city.
How ever, which parties do you think pick up restaurant waste?
Next time you’re in NYC and you see a garbage truck that isn’t white, you’ll be seeing a private “carter’s” truck. They’re all over the place in NYC at all sorts of hours 6 days a week.
One way of sharing the streets with garbage trucks is to NOT drive a giant SUV or pickup truck as a personal car in NYC.
If your car is narrow, say like a Subaru or even better a Honda Fit or VW Golf, it will be much more likely to be able to be driven down the open street between garbage truck and parked cars.
No “apps”, or big brother, necessary.
I understood your point. I am a lifelong New Yorker and I know about private haulers. I am a homeowner as well and having remodeled have contracted the very same trucks you are talking about. Residential buildings can put out refrigerators for recycling pick up. They are done by appointment and are checked the night prior to pick up to ensure the coolant isn’t leaking and the removal is safe. I never talked about offices or restaurants and neither did the author. When I said they pick up anything, I was talking about residential disposals not commercial. Perhaps I needed to clarify that. And I specifically said that the NYC Sanitation trucks are white to clarify that it isn’t easy to mistake a NYDS truck with a private hauler. White truck means NY SANITATION. I LIVE in the city and I see all types of trucks at all hours but I know the difference between a sanitation truck and a private hauler. Thanks for trying to explain what I already know.
“Residential buildings can put out refrigerators for recycling pick up. They are done by appointment and are checked the night prior to pick up to ensure the coolant isn’t leaking and the removal is safe.”
No, refrigerators put outside of residential builds, by prior appointment, are emptied of coolant by a City team, so the cooling system is punctured and the coolant is drained before the refrigerators are hauled away for recycling.
You said City garbage trucks are one colour. You did not say that they are white, and that commercial garbage trucks can be pretty much any colour but white.
Jay, you misread because I said “ those white NYC sanitation trucks are the only ones that color in the city” …. I specifically said they are white. And I said all others are not white to avoid confusion. I should have spelled that out more clearly.
And yes, the coolant is drained so that refrigerators, such as those in Ashley’s essay, can be hauled away by a NYDS “White” truck thus blocking traffic flow. So glad we all agree on that.
Yeah. I drive a compact car. The problem arises when the NYC sanitation trucks don’t double park but instead park in the middle of the street or, even better, park in a diagonal slant ACROSS the street. Try getting past that. Not happening.
Max, unless your real name is Ashley C., you keep replying to posts I’ve addressed to the whole essay by Ashley.
Of course, City garbage trucks can block streets, even for compact cars, BUT that’s true of cement trucks, delivery trucks, commercial garbage trucks, Joey’s F250 crew cabbed pickup, etc.
Your absolutely correct, it can happen with any of those vehicles but none if those has a regular route that is already tracked which is I think the authors point. All the ones you mentioned are one offs and yes, they cause the same headaches. I think there was some validity to Ashley’s point and I was compelled to reply to the dismissive comments with some food for thought. Looks like we at least agree that there are vehicles that block traffic flows and that one type is the NYDS trucks. Thanks for the chat.