Anyone ever tried to park for free in Manhattan?

izoneiz

izoneiz

izoneiz

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I'm renting a car in manhattan for a few days next week and I'm going to need to park it overnight twice. Fri eve to Sat morn, and Sun eve to Mon morn.

I've tried to figure out whether they operate an equivalent of "free parking on yellow lines after 6:30pm" and free sunday parking, as is the case in the UK / London / w/e, but I couldn't find any specific answers.

They were all really vague.

Any ideas? Has anyone here got experience with this?

Many thanks
 
First question - why?!!! :p

I would be absolutely amazed if you could park anywhere for free, it's such a small, high-density place it's a struggle to get a space if you're paying..!

Manhattan is teeny anyway, you can walk everywhere or get a tube pass which is cheap as chips :) Alternatively, you could probably park in New Jersey across the river and train it in? :p
 
You absolutely do not want to rent a car in Manhatten. Absolutely stupid idea. I drove into Manhatten for a few days and.. dropped the rental car off early. It's totally pointless.
 
Well, that's not what I asked FOX. I asked about parking, not about WHY I need a car. I'm renting a car to go OUT OF TOWN, on TWO OCCASIONS. Once on Friday (but I'll be returning that eve), and once over the weekend, returning on Sunday.

So answer my god damn question if you can, and if you can't, stop being so arrogant and don't bother posting.
 
Good to sell you are still a, well, rules prevent me going further - I was just offering practical advice having been there myself.

Still this is an iznoniez thread so I suspect it's all a figment of your imagination like the countless other things you've wasted our time asking for our advice on over the years :confused:

I'd be suprised if anyone is inclined to help you now after that pathetic little outburst.
 
I would appreciate help from anyone who has personal experience with parking in Mahattan. I am not after "theories" or "ideas", since we're all relatively capable of finding info on google ourselves. I would however benefit from hearing from people who have done this in the past, since next Friday I will have to figure this out for myself.

I've phoned a few friends in nyc and none of them seem to know - the two that do have cars pay for spaces in private car parks.
 
Can you not rent a car on the days you need one? May cost more, but if it's easier/cheaper than paying for parking I see no reason not to try it.

InvG
 
I went to new york for 5 days, got bored after three, so rented a car and went elsewhere but had to return to my hotel in NY, I had to park overnight in a car park, cost something like $30 overnight, and the guy wanted to keep your keys so he could shuffle it around if necessary, this was next to the Westin New york.
 
Toker said:
you did call his idea stupid and pointless without knowing his reasoning.
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Not really.

If he is renting a car for two trips "out of town", he could just rent them before he travels rather than struggle to park it "on the cheap" overnight when he DOESN'T need the car?

I certainly wouldn't want a car in Manhattan.
 
Manhattan is full of private parking garages - most are multi stories with lifts. On the corner of many blocks you'll find rather odd open air carparks with cool stacking systems.

All charge. You wont get parking for free like that in Central Manhattan except during the day on a Sunday but that doesn't really help. Even most hotels don't have parking.
 
I considered renting a car on Friday and returning it that day, and then picking another one up on Saturday morning, but that's not feasible really. 2 reasons. Firstly, the quotes were given on 24hr rentals, so by retuning the car on Fri eve I would be "wasting cash". Secondly, after researching where I could get the best deal, I found that I have to pick the car up on E 80th St, but because I'm staying with a friend over my car-rental days I'll be leaving it by 153rd St on Friday eve and Sun eve, i.e. shuffling back and forth between 153rd and 80th, in a car, would suck. CBA to do so.

yeah also, there's still a chance I might just drive out of NYC on Fri morn and come back on Sun even, without being in the city on Fri eve, but I won't know until a few of my friends have sorted their schedules out.
 
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quick msg from nyc -

driving to and from nyc itself is a real pain. i was stuck in traffic jam for over an hr yesterday and travelled only 1.5 miles. This is mainly because everyone ventures out of the city on weekends. however, driving IN nyc, specifically manhattan, is completely fine. much more relaxing than driving in central london, + it's quicker and I have to say it isn't bad at all. I found it to be easy and straightforward.

as for parking, there's a private car park on each road, and they charge from $1/hr to $15/hr!! (depending on location). I left the car overnight a few times and I was paying about $12 / night. not too bad.

as for parking on the street - if you can find a spot, it's free in a lot of places, regardless of the day. if it's not free, it's very reasonable (about a dollar an hr). parking for motorbikes is a walk in the park - it's free everywhere (it seems), and parking on the edge of the pavement isn't frowned upon.

driving and having a car or bike in manhattan is far easier than having one in central london. unfortunately, people drive like idiots here and so it's more dangerous. drivers are very careless and just don't appear to have any common sense a lot of the time.

my 250hp V6 rental was fun :). I'd certainly encourage anyone visiting manhattan to rent a car for a day or two to explore the surrounding areas (like long island or the state parks) and to try out driving in manhattan just out of curiosity - I found the experience great because it showed me just how hard/slow driving is in London, and just how diligent London-based drivers are in comparison to their manhattan equivalents.

one more thing: the road surfaces are far worse than those in london. In some places, bits of road are replaced with giant iron slabs that are vaguely cemented to the earth - these dislodge at times and one ends up wading around in a mixture of cracked tarmac, cement, building materials, potholes and giant cracks....
 
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izoneiz said:
quick msg from nyc -

driving to and from nyc itself is a real pain. i was stuck in traffic jam for over an hr yesterday and travelled only 1.5 miles.
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Sounds like most days in Manhattan.
This is mainly because everyone ventures out of the city on weekends. however, driving IN nyc, specifically manhattan, is completely fine. much more relaxing than driving in central london, + it's quicker and I have to say it isn't bad at all. I found it to be easy and straightforward.
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I'll just lol :p

Trying to get onto and off the island during rush hours is an exercise in sitting in a traffic jam for a long time.

Most of the time in Manhattan you don't drive anywhere. You sit in a traffic jam shuffling through the red lights, particularly when going cross town. There's lots of streets you can park for free in an evening, particularly the further uptown you head. Even metered streets generally have free parking overnight, can't remember what time it starts, but it finishes at 8am then you have to start paying at the meters etc.
 
I was surprised at how little traffic there was over the weekend while I was in NY a couple of months ago.
 
When I went to Manhattan the other month I drove in and it was fine, granted the hotel was quite near to the tunnel with parking. We also drove to the Staten Island ferry the next day, got there no problems. Obviously like everywhere else in the world, wouldn't like to do it during rush hour.
 
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