Here's how Philadelphia is working to alleviate congestion and prevent illegal parking
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Driving in the city of Philadelphia can frustrate even the most even-keeled people.
And a big issue is illegal parking in crosswalks, bike lanes and travel lanes.
An Action News investigation found dozens of delivery trucks and everyday drivers clogging roadways when they could have parked in a legal loading zone.
"We're trying to figure out why trucks just park where they want to park when there is clearly spots right across the street?" asked Chad Pradelli to an illegally parked UPS driver.
"Well, I am going right over here," he replied.
Earlier this month, the investigative team uncovered the most frequent parking offenders. UPS topped the list, with $9 million in fines in the past five years.
The City of Philadelphia told Action News it is a problem they are aware of. And it is working on solutions to navigate the issue and alleviate congestion and curb illegal parking.
SEE ALSO: UPS paid $9 million in Center City parking congestion fines. Here's a list of top offenders
"Since 2019, the number of E-commerce sales nationwide have increased almost 50% and I don't think that is a trend that we've seen peak yet," said Kristen Scutter with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. "And I think that's going to continue to be a challenge to cities."
Food delivery drivers to everyday people creating traffic snarl told Action News they think it's okay to double park because of what they were doing.
"We're just delivering a flower," said a motorist parked in a travel lane with flashers on.
The informed the driver that there was an open loading zone across the street.
"Oh sorry," the driver replied.
Scutter said the DVRPC did a study on parking issues and curb space in 2019.
She said it found that e-commerce and residential development were two things that contributed to the parking issues.
And some changes were made to help.
"What the city ultimately found was that adding all-day loading availability helped to improve transit times on the Chestnut Street corridor," she said.
She said other recommendations included mandated off-street loading sites for newly constructed buildings, making deliveries at night, consolidating delivery sites for UPS and other companies, and adding more Amazon lockers around the city.
"This is our way to move from fines to fees for the fleet operators," said Akshay Malik, the Smart Cities director for Philadelphia.
As part of his job, Malik is tasked with being the tech expert looking to the future. He spearheaded a six-pilot program to study parking pains in Philadelphia.
As part of that program, the city implemented "Smart Loading Zones" where delivery trucks and others can use an app called "Pebble" to reserve loading zones, and pay as they use the time.
Currently, there are 22 of them in Center City. The city is using the data to track the supply and demand of curb space.
We asked if UPS, FedEx and Amazon were using the zones.
"So some of the big players are not registered with us as a fleet through our fleet portal," replied Malik.
Simply put: the pilot program is showing that big companies are not participating.
"I believe as our city and other cities scale up we'll see more participation," he added.
Right now there are growing pains. Action News caught up with hauler Mike Whitwer, who just received a ticket using a Smart Zone during our interview.
"Your thoughts on it?" asked the investigative team.
"It's very misleading. We got a ticket. We paid in the kiosk over there and we still got a ticket. I guess you need an app for it. Very unclear," said Whitwer.
The pilot program ended in April. Malik said a report on it will be out later this month.
UPS Statement:
"Making deliveries in urban environments, including Philadelphia, poses challenges for companies in several industries because of limited commercial vehicle parking. Our drivers' GPS technology helps them identify loading docks when they are available and choose the most direct delivery routes to reduce unnecessary driving. The safety of the communities where we live and work is extremely important to us, and we are willing to work with the city to find solutions that address limited curbside parking.
At UPS, we also reduce the number of our vehicles that are on city streets by consolidating packages by delivery time commitments and final destinations. For residential deliveries, we offer free services like UPS My Choice and the UPS Access Point network that enables consumers to receive deliveries where and when they want, which further helps reduce miles driven in the communities we serve."
