Car-Sharing Instead of More Parking? LES Co-op Says: “Fantastic”

Seward Park Houses has welcomed a small car-sharing program instead of clamoring for additional parking. Image: The Lo-Down.

About 1,700 Lower East Side families live in Seward Park Houses. Located between East Broadway, Essex, and Grand Streets, street parking is scarce, and though the complex offers 400 parking spaces, there are 500 names on the waiting list for a spot. 

"It’s a fantastic way for our people to own a car without owning a car," co-op board president Michael Tumminia told the Times. The best research on car-sharing suggests that each shared vehicle replaces between 4.6 and 20 personal vehicles, depending on the city, and that car-share members drive less over time. 

Hertz claims that each of its shared cars replaces 14 personal cars. At that rate, if Seward Park converted just 64 of its 400 spaces to car-sharing, everyone on the waiting list would be served, and maybe some of those parking spaces could be converted to more productive uses.