What We Should Do with 10,000+ Miles of Curb
By Isaac Oates, Tech:NYC Urbanism Fellow
Earlier this month, I spent a few days in Tangier, Morocco for my birthday. Tangier is less than ten miles from the Spanish mainland by ferry and was a designated "international zone" from 1923 to 1956, attracting diplomats, spies, artists, writers and exiles. French and Spanish colonial influence remains apparent today.
One of the first things I noticed, of course, was the red-and-white striping of their curbs:
This red-and-white striping means no parking. The blue-and-white striping in the background means paid parking. Source: Booking.com listing for Appartement tanger Al houara
This striping is ubiquitous and distinctive. It means NO PARKING and it is particularly effective in multi-lingual settings. While the driving is somewhat chaotic, I noticed that cars don't seem to park in front of the striped curbs.
These markings are found across the Middle East and North Africa, a legacy of the colonial era. Europe itself makes extensive use of pavement markings to guide motorists. For example, here is a clearly marked delivery area in the French road system:
The yellow area is reserved for deliveries (livraison), and the adjacent areas are clearly marked for paid parking (payant). Source: Signalisations Verticale et Horizontale à Paris, Partie 3: Le Stationnement
Compare this to New York City's famous and often-misunderstood parking signs:
This clean, modern sign is still confusing. Source: New York Parking Ticket LLC
New York's parking signs have improved since 2013 but they still aren't as clear as pavement markings. Then there's the fire hydrant rule—no parking within 15 feet—which requires drivers to either carry a measuring tape or just hope for the best.
New York City should adopt painted markings as part of a broader strategy for how we use the curb. For example:
Pick-up / drop-off zones — Twenty million monthly Uber and taxi rides means 40 million pick-ups and drop-offs. Fire hydrants already create a 30-foot zone that is used this way informally. Let's make this clear for everyone and designate additional pick-up zones where they are needed.
Delivery zones — Delivery isn't just for commercial zones. Nearly three million packages are delivered every day in NYC.
Parking – By clearly marking the limits of the parking lane—which should be about six feet—we can make things clearer for those parking and easier for those driving.
EV charging stations — DOT has installed 98 street-side charging stations in a five-borough pilot. These must become much more common if the city is serious about its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
Bike parking — Citibike docks are often in parking lanes, but other bike parking is typically on the already-crowded sidewalk. Bike racks in the parking lane do triple duty: decluttering the sidewalk, making biking more accessible, and creating a buffer zone near intersections — a tactic known as “hardened daylighting”—that makes crossing the street safer.
BikeCorral outside P.S. 118 in Brooklyn. Source: NYC DOT
New York City has more than 10,000 miles of curb. Managing it well is a challenge — but it’s also a big opportunity to make our city work better for everyone.
This article was originally published by Isaac Oates on his blog.