Well thought I'd share my experience so hopefully anyone traveling up in New York City won't get caught off guard.
First of all, NYC wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Traffic sucked, but nothing a little aggressiveness and pre-planning couldn't handle. Plan on leaving wherever you are coming from at least 1 hour earlier than Google maps says. The traffic going into the Lincoln Tunnel added about 45 minutes to my trip up. I entered at 7:00pm, and left NYC at about 7:00pm. A few of the streets were also down to 1 lane so there were a lot of bottlenecks. On average it took me about 10-15 minutes to make one complete trip around a city block, having to wait for pedestrian crossings to clear adds a lot of time up. I drove sanely and at a reasonable speed and had absolutely no encounters with police or truck inspections.
If you can trim things and fit everything into a 16' truck, Sprinter, or Cargo van, I think that would be your best bet. I was in a GM W4500 and the maneuverability was great. The Lincoln Tunnel is a 13'-0" clearance.
Watch out for pedestrians. On many occasions around Times Square I had people jaywalking and practically running into my truck. Evidently in NYC, the pedestrian traffic control signals go like this:
Blue WALK man: Just a few people cross
Red flashing HAND: Everyone cross now, and take your time
Red Hand: Dart out in front of vehicles and ignore the big truck coming towards you.
Parking: Your best bet is to find a flat lot where the staffers continually rearrange the cars and double park them. I pulled up into the lot, asked for a price, paid in cash, and handed the guy my keys. He did all of the work to get the truck into the spot. The nice thing was he backed it up against a wall so nobody could get into it (it was locked and empty anyway). They will keep your truck key until you come to pick it up, so plan accordingly.
I basically chose the first parking lot I saw with what looked like enough room. This lot was located at 344 W. 45th street. There are 2 lots here, both of them are the same company I think. There is 1 row home type building between the lots. They are open from about 7:00AM until some time after 9:00PM.
Expenses:
As of 12/18/2009, this is what it cost me to take the truck up (aside from truck rental and fuel)
NJ Turnpike, Del. Memorial Bridge to Lincoln tunnel: ~$20 each way
Lincoln Tunnel: $16
Parking: $180 (4 spaces x 24 Hours)
I withdrew about $350 in cash before I left my shop to cover these expenses, I think cash is probably the easiest way to go about tolls and parking if possible. I don't know NYC well enough to say if there are other Boroughs you could park in for cheaper and get a cab, but the convenience of having my truck two or three blocks away justified the cost.
Definitely call ahead to the venue and find out where your loading area is. One minor problem I encountered was that the loading dock employees and manger did not speak very good English and interpreted my request for information on nearby parking lots as "Can I park my truck in your loading dock until tomorrow night." This resulted in some confused looks and smirks. Talk slowly and explain exactly what you need.
Anyway, hope that helps if anyone is doing production in the Manhattan area. I felt very safe in the Times Square area, lots of cops on every block. Be sure to give yourself a few hours for site seeing, and make sure you have addresses and cross streets for your venue, hotel, and parking in case you get lost.
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Topic: Trucks in NY (Read 5869 times)