Tips for Driving and Parking in Manhattan

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 Manhattan 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, as long as you do not leave the island you cannot get that lost. So please, don't panic. If you 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.

The second key to driving in Manhattan is having a good map, one with all the street names and arrows to indicate traffic directions, and a compass. There are even some compasses exclusively designed for travel in Manhattan that have uptown and downtown written in place of the directions. If you are going with a tradition compass remember that the grid really coincides with the ordinal compass points not the cardinal ones. Uptown is synonymous with Northeast rather than true North, downtown with Southwest, and so on.

Most streets in New York City are one-way and, if you're north of 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 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. It is important to be flexible with your directions. If one avenue is backed up there is a chance that another one won't be.

The final step in this journey 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. Many garages have different prices at certain times of day and certain weekends when there are events going on. Also, many of the major attractions in the city have deals with local parking garages for discounts as long as you verify your parking with the attraction. This information will generally be listed on the attraction's website. The discounts aren't tremendous by any means; however, if you're paying to park your car for a few days they will certainly add up. If you're leaving the Midtown area parking garages become fewer and farther between. Say you've spent the day with the family at some museum uptown and now wish to venture downtown for dinner. It's probably best to leave your car where it is if it's already in a garage and take a cab or the subway. If you really want to or need to take your car, just be prepared to drive around searching for parking. There are far less parking garages and parking on the street can be confusing and time consuming, but not impossible. Just make sure that you read the parking signs if you choose to park on the street. Many areas are for commercial vehicles, residents, doctors, etc. You will get ticketed and you will get towed. And having to take a trip over to the pier to get your car after a long day is even less fun than it sounds.

Driving around Manhattan can be fun, educational, and help you release your inner cabbie. Just be careful. There were nearly 75,000¹ accidents in the city in 2006, most were minor, but this bears keeping in mind, especially if you plan on bringing a shiny new car across the waters.

¹"New York State Department of Motor Vehicles: Summary New York City Motor Vehicle Accidents, 2006." 2006 Motor Vehicle Accidents. Oct. 2007