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History of Tribeca Buildings
Deliverista hub on Broadway is under construction
B. sent this photo: The deliverista hub on Broadway at City Hall, across from the end of Murray, is now under construction. (I actually thought it wasn’t going to happen but here we are.)
While I think a hub for delivery workers is an excellent idea, I do think this is one of the most ill-conceived sites. Why not put it in a less trafficked location? with more room for parked bikes? with more seating for the workers, indoors and out? with BATHROOMS!!
This will be the first of its kind — a public, enclosed space that will incorporate e-bike battery charging, cellphone charging, bike repair and a rest station for delivery workers.
The Worker’s Justice Project, in partnership with the city, broke ground on the project in August, testing and upgrading the electrical system to make sure it can support high-capacity e-bike battery charging. When it came before Community Board 1 in spring 2024, the board rejected plans for this location — a historic district — but the city moved forward regardless.
This is how it will work:
- The hub will have two full-time workers five days a week to supervise the battery charging cabinets and provide education for delivery workers.
- Two to three delivery workers at a time will be able to use each of three “modules” — rest/services, charging and bike repair. Most delivery workers own more than one battery, so while one is charging at one of the 48 ports at the hub, they can still be working. There will be an app that will notify them when their battery is fully charged.
- The charging cabinet will contain technology to detect each battery’s condition and whether it is UL certified (as required by NYC law) so that they can connect battery owners with battery-exchange programs as appropriate.
- The new hub will be 3 feet wider and 5 feet longer than the current newsstand; it is being designed by the Brooklyn-based designers Fantástica. (I hope they will make a greater effort with the street side of the building, both for bikers in the bike lane and for the views from across the street. Right now just looks like a solid wall.)
Rendering from 2024
The Department of Transportation will be adding bike racks around the hub. Staff will direct deliveristas to use bike racks and avoid congregating on the sidewalk. Members of the general public can also use the facility to charge batteries and phones.
The city has 65,000 delivery workers, and about 80 percent of them use e-bikes and motorbikes. They are also outside all day long, so part of the goal here is to have a refuge from bad weather.
Funding for the pilot program came partially from a $1 million federal grant secured by Senator Chuck Schumer. Another one is being launched on the Upper Westside on 72nd Street.
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“While I think a hub for delivery workers is an excellent idea, I do think this is one of the most ill-conceived sites. Why not put it in a less trafficked location?”
Agree it shouldn’t take precious sidewalk space; take up road space. Of the streetscape, 75% is devoted to roads while only 25% is sidewalks – inversely proportionate to actual usage of cars/pedestrians. That wide sidewalk is one of the few pleasant sidewalk spaces in all of downtown.
Sadly, I suspect this will be a classic case of “what could possibly go wrong?”. A lot, I expect.
Like what?
Becomes a congregation point with no enforcement of the two-person restriction resulting in sidewalk congestion in an already busy spot; lack of enforcement of the UL-listed batteries only…to name a couple potential issues.
Both fair concerns. But as Pam noted in the post, UL enforcement is automated.
As far as the former, I’m not really sure where you can site this downtown in a central area for delivery workers that avoids congestion. As Ben noted, taking parking away would be preferable, and I suspect in due time that is where more of these will go. But alas that’s not the choice that was made here.
The perfect place for this would’ve been, after an eminent domain grab, in front of one of the abandoned buildings around the neighborhood, like 45 Park Place, or the Leaning Tower of FIDI.
I am blown away by the lack of any movement whatsoever at 45 Park Place. Broke ground over a decade ago!
Completely agree! 45 park place is a blight on our neighborhood
According to the Signal app, someone called 911 the other day about debris allegedly falling from the crane. Apparently nothing was falling at that time but the site (and crane) is still an accident waiting to happen. Whatever winds up happening in the future, there’s sure to be plenty of impotent hand-wringing about “how could this have been ignored for so long?”
Ask the neighbors of the East Village street the delivery people have hijacked and turned it into a barracks, a toilet , a shower and barber shop how that is working out for them..
This property has been stuck in a bankruptcy proceeding for 6 years. Most jurisdictions around the country would resolve something like this in months, not years. New York is broken. Why would any lender want to finance new development here when it could take over six years to resolve a default?
Good place for ICE to hang out too.
I agree with “G” — ICE is the first thing I thought of.
So, we are letting these kamakazi e-cyclists get free electricity?
What’s next? Free charging for electric cars and, hey, why not?. free gasoline for motorists too?
@John S: Reality check? An e-bike recharge consumes btw 300 and 1000 watt-hours of electricity — 0.3 – 1 kWh — on average. The cost? 10 to 30 cents. Maybe find something else to get upset over?
Agreed about the electricity but who is paying for the attendants. It says a non profit but most non profits receive all or a large portion of their funding from government grants. This means they will be paid by us.
Komanoff,
You don’t think that mega corporations Uber Eats, DoorDash should be providing/paying for proper space and facilities for gig food workers?
@Lisa: I appreciated most of your comment. We agree on much. However, I didn’t appreciate your insinuation that I don’t want Uber et al. to pay deliveristas more and to foot the bill for better working conditions.
Since 2023 I’ve published three articles (in Streetsblog & Vital City) calling for a NYC distance-based surcharge on app-mediated food deliveries, with proceeds paying for safe-battery swap-outs and to build and staff deliverista rest stations. like the one just installed outside City Hall.
That would have cut mightily into app company profits (hooray!) and reduced total deliverista mileage (also hooray). Alas, it hasn’t happened. That doesn’t stop me from savoring the City Hall station as a reasonable second best for deliverista comfort and socialization. “Not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good” is how I roll.
Speaking of rolling, like you, I never ever order food delivery. I cook (that’s me at Trader Joe’s stuffing my bicycle bags with groceries). As I said, we agree on much. Maybe next time go after one of the mean-spirited TC commenters? Thanks.
This is only the beginning of the ridiculous streetscape “improvements” that this administration is pushing.
The area adjoining the Brooklyn Bridge onramp is absolute chaos and more and more vendors are popping up everywhere – including back on the bridge itself.
We are starting to look like a 3rd world country.
The delivery companies, including Amazon, have gotten away with some serious malfeasance in their treatment of workers over the years, often by the fiction that these people aren’t employees. I don’t know if anyone here remembers how the entire sidewalk on Hudson by the former Santander Bank was openly used by Amazon as an open air sorting center for distribution of packages in Tribeca. I strongly support what the city is doing for these exploited workers but all these companies should be ashamed of themselves and they should build places like this themselves.
The need for a charging station in the neighborhood likely reflects the high use of delivery apps and services used by residents. Just makes sense.
Excellent, I’m sure they won’t use the sidewalk as their highway to this charging station…
I agree. It’s likely that there is an extremely high use of delivery apps in the neighborhood but one thing I do believe is that these private equity driven services often lean into exploitation of their workers and along with that taking advantage of the rest of us as well as this particular installation shows. I still support it but this is something the private equity people should pay for as part of doing business. In any case these workers are outstanding people who worked through an epidemic and horrific weather conditions and deserve safety and a living wage.
Different things can be true at the same time:
If there is to be this sort of charging-space, it is an ideal place IMO as the sidewalk is wide (and relatively uncrowded compared to other places, the area is safe due to City Hall, near a subway and it is close to the affluent folks who are ordering food.
It is not OK IMO for taxpayers to be footing this – the corporate apps should have been forced long ago to provide this. Also there are many empty storefronts all over Manhattan that could be used for a rest area.
And reminder that not everyone gets food delivery – for example my family does not get food delivery. (Actually the biggest users of app food delivery are the young healthy wealthy.)
Per City law, restaurants must provide bathroom access to food delivery workers. I am baffled that media coverage – particularly NY Times – has not mentioned this requirement or sought to see if it is working.
Relatedly, continue to be baffled that there is no similar concern for gig ecommerce workers who must schlep heavy stuff on sidewalks in bad weather etc or similarly on cargo bikes. With ecommerce delivery, they must work their committed “shift”. While food delivery work is tough and dangerous, it is up to the individual worker to decide to do an individual order. Basically – a food delivery worker can decide not to work during a freezing rain. But an ecommerce worker on a shift must work completely during that freezing rain.