Alternate side parking causes more car use

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Ask any New Yorker, finding a parking spot can be almost impossible at times.

Add in street sweeping restrictions, and the parking pinch gets even worse.

Now a new study finds those parking rules may have an unintended side effect for other drivers in Manhattan.

Alternate side parking rules make us move cars to get out of the way of street sweepers.

You get in the car, get to the other side, or just drive the car!

A NYU study pins that down quantitatively, saying once we move it we often use it.

NYU professor and researcher Zhan Guo says the science is easy and the logic is there: the more we move our cars the more we use them.

"Street cleaning can cause people to use their cars more often," Guo said.

How much more? Between 3 and 7 percent which adds up!

Some neighborhoods have fought to drop from two cleaning days a week to one.

The thing is neighbors had to prove their streets were clean enough.

If more in New York did the same, it would save as many car miles per day as 26 trips around the earth!

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new york city, alternate side parking, new york news, michelle charlesworth

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