LockerNYC Expands to Cut Delivery Truck Traffic in NYC
NEW YORK – More than 100,000 trucks flood the streets of Manhattan every day, according to New York City’s Department of Transportation. To ease the traffic tie-ups, the department is partnering with GoLocker to expand LockerNYC, a secure public delivery locker program. The goal is to keep New Yorkers’ property safe while reducing the number of delivery trucks in the city.
“This does several different things: it removes congestion on the streets, we eliminate package delivery friction for delivery carriers, and for consumers, we provide a frictionless process to receive and return packages,” said Nigel Thomas, President of GoLocker.
After reaching a major milestone—its 10,000th package delivered—LockerNYC is growing. In the coming weeks, new lockers will be installed in Jackson Heights and Sunset Park, adding to the 22 existing locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. So far, about 1,400 users have signed up.
“As more and more people choose to use this program, we’re going to see big decreases in truck vehicle miles traveled,” said Charlie Baker of Transportation Alternatives.
New York City residents say they’re optimistic about the program’s impact. “We have something like this in Toronto, it really helps clear traffic for pedestrians and bikers,” said Shabreen Syed, a NYC resident. Kara Silverman, a GoLocker user, said she has been using GoLocker for more than one year and “loves it.”
The Department of Transportation initially planned to run the program for just one year, but has now extended it for another two. GoLocker’s goal is to deploy at least 200 lockers across the five boroughs by the end of next year. “We want everyone in the city to have access,” said Thomas.
LockerNYC is part of a broader strategy to tackle congestion and rethink last-mile delivery infrastructure across New York City.
Jennifer Zhou is a Master's student at Columbia University's Journalism school with a background in journalism, finance, and media. She previously worked at UBS in Wealth Management and as a reporter for Hong Kong's largest broadcast TV channel. Passionate about business and economic journalism, she is currently covering transportation issues in NYC.
