April 23, 2025 - (New York, NY) New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today celebrated Earth Day by unveiling the city’s first microhubs, located on the Upper West Side. Microhubs are central locations where delivery trucks can unload cargo and transfer it to smaller, safer, and more sustainable forms of transportation for the final delivery, including cargo bikes and handcarts.
One in five New Yorkers receive packages four or more days per week, which has dramatically increased the number of delivery vehicles on busy city streets. Nearly 90 percent of goods are delivered by trucks, and with the growth of e-commerce and demand for frequent home deliveries, the amount of goods that move through the five boroughs is expected to grow by nearly 70 percent in the next 20 years.
The first microhubs, located on Amsterdam Avenue and West 73rd Street; Amsterdam Avenue and West 85th Street, and Broadway and West 77th Street, offer dedicated space for select delivery companies participating in the pilot program, including Amazon, Net Zero Logistics, and UPS. Each of the three locations were chosen as part of NYC DOT’s Smart Curbs program on the Upper West Side.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen a significant shift in how people shop, leading to a massive increase in home delivery that has put a strain on our streets. We’re excited about the potential these new microhubs have to better organize deliveries, while reducing double parking and easing local traffic,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Jeffrey Roth. “We’re thankful to the many partners who have contributed to these initial pilots, and we hope it will serve as a model we can bring citywide in the future.”
“New Yorkers are receiving more deliveries than ever before, and this has resulted in a spike in delivery trucks that pollute our air and create challenges on our streets,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “These microhubs will cut down on the number of truck trips on our busy city streets and also cut down on double parking and blocking sidewalks.”
“These microhubs are going to drastically reduce the number of polluting trucks on city streets, one of our PlaNYC initiatives,” said Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice Executive Director Elijah Hutchinson. “When we look to cargo bikes and handcarts to help with deliveries, which have dramatically increased since the pandemic, we’re cutting our emissions and reducing congestion, while also improving our quality of life by lowering noise levels on city streets.”
“Amazon is excited to join this innovative NYC DOT microhub pilot program,” said Kawaljit Singh, director, Last Mile Transportation at Amazon. “We believe this is an important step towards optimizing urban delivery for our customers, and we are eager to collaborate and contribute to its success.”
“Joining forces with NYC DOT on this groundbreaking initiative aligns perfectly with our mission to provide sustainable and efficient delivery solutions,” said Mark Chiusano, CEO at Net Zero Logistics. “We are excited to contribute to a cleaner, greener New York City while helping to alleviate traffic congestion.”
“UPS is pleased to collaborate with the Department of Transportation on New York City’s microhub pilot program,” said Dave Brennan, president at UPS North Atlantic District. “We are working with many cities around the world to promote new best practices in logistics that reduce environmental, congestion and safety impacts. We share the common goal of promoting a safer, less congested transportation environment for all users, from bikes to trucks to pedestrians.”
These are the first of up to 36 locations that will be part of NYC DOT’s microhub pilot. Locations were selected based on compatible land uses as well as proximity to high density areas, truck routes, bike lane networks, and transit, as well as through conversations with communities and businesses. The pilot will last up to three years and include on-street locations like the ones launched today and off-street locations on city-owned properties.
The Microhubs pilot program builds upon recent administration efforts to reimagine deliveries in New York City, restructure freight distribution, and create a sustainable last-mile delivery system for getting goods where they need to go, including:
• New rules to allow for more deliveries to occur using pedal-assist cargo bikes, a safer and more sustainable alternative to larger delivery trucks.
• Launching LockerNYC to combat package thefts and consolidate truck deliveries to central locations.
• The Blue Highways pilot, in coordination with EDC, to reactivate marine infrastructure helping to shift deliveries from larger trucks to our waterways.
• An Off-Hour Delivery incentive program to reduce truck congestion during peak business hours.
• An expansion of dedicated loading zones for deliveries across the five boroughs, with over 3,000 new loading zones installed since 2022.
Additional details on the local delivery hub pilot program are available in DOT’s Microhubs Pilot report. This pilot program, created in response to Local Law 166 of 2021, is part of DOT’s comprehensive freight strategy detailed in Delivering New York and Delivering Green.
“Every day, thousands of delivery trucks clog our streets from Midtown to Upper West Side, creating gridlock, pollution, and safety hazard delivering packages and small goods ordered online,” said Congressman Jerry Nadler. “Microhubs offer a better way forward. These small urban distribution centers allow deliveries to be consolidated and completed via cargo bikes and small electric vehicles rather than large trucks. It is terrific that NYCDOT is announcing this program on Earth Day and has chosen three locations on the UWS as part of this pilot program, and I look forward to its success and expansion across New York City.”
“With the massive explosion of e-commerce and last-mile delivery challenges in the New York City, RPA congratulates the NYC Department of Transportation on launching its ‘Smart Curbs Microhubs’ pilot program on Earth Day 2025,” said Dr. Sam Bowden Akbari, director of communications at Regional Plan Association (RPA). “These three hubs, the first of many, will provide centralized locations where delivery trucks can unload cargo, dispersing it to small and more sustainable modes of transport, be it cargo bikes, trolly or hand carts. We look forward to supporting the DOT over the next three years of the larger pilot program to expand microhubs to 36 locations and help integrate them into the ‘Blue Highways’ freight management program. In combination, these efforts will help significantly alleviate congestion and truck exhaust by ramping up sustainable modes of last-mile delivery and by returning water-based freight and parcel delivery to its rightful place in the ecosystem of logistics management in the city.”
