Driving and parking in New York City

So, you’ve decided, probably against the wishes of your family and friends; that you are going to drive into New York City for the very first time. You are clearly determined, motivated, and hopefully have bullied a few cars out of the way on the local highway as practice. But driving around New York City is about more than being psyched to go bumper to bumper with a taxi. You have to know the rules.

First things first, as you hopefully already know, Manhattan is an island. Remember those beans from history class? Exactly. This little fact will save your sanity when driving in Manhattan nine out of ten times. Why, you ask? Because, as long as you do not leave the island you cannot get that lost. If you are on the island and go over a bridge or through a tunnel all bets are off, but if you stay on the island, I promise you’ll be all right. As long as you have a compass and a map you can always stage a hasty retreat to the side of the road to get your bearings again.

Now that we’ve agreed you’ll avoid bridges and tunnels at all costs; a little bit about the layout of the city. Most streets in New York City are one-way. But before you cry lost; generally if you’re north of Union Square/14th street the streets are on a numbered grid courtesy of those lovely 1800s city planners with silly mustaches. Additionally, again above 14th street, these streets also, generally, follow some rules. Remember to match your O’s and E’s, Odd avenues run South, Even streets run East. If you decide you want to wander down into the trendy, delicious restaurant heaven that is the village, smell the smells of the Chinatown markets, or see the famed financial district, be warned, even with directions you will likely get turned around. There are always street fairs, construction and heavy traffic congestion all over the city. Make sure that you have specific directions to where you are going especially when traveling off the grid, a compass, and a good street map i.e. one written in English with all the streets named with arrows to indicate the direction of traffic, it’s useless otherwise.

The final step in the journey of driving in New York City is the task of parking the car. This can be much more challenging than the actually driving especially if you don’t want to pay a fortune. If you have money to spend and are in the midtown area parking garages are the way to go. Your car is safe, you’ll be able to find it again and it can’t get towed. But take care and read the posted rates.