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Discount bus company racks up $136,000 in traffic fines
Photo credit: Ryan Thatcher
They idle. They hog valuable parking space and MTA bus stops. Their passengers choke sidewalks. And one of them is the city’s third biggest parking-ticket scofflaw.
New Century Travel, one of several Chinatown bus companies that deliver cheap trips to riders and plenty of grief to neighbors, has racked up more than $136,000 in mostly unpaid parking fines, an amNewYork investigation found. The New York City Department of Finance was unaware the company, which also operates under two other names, owed so much money, saying it can be difficult to link fines for multiple vehicles to a single source if registration information is off. The department examined amNewYork’s research, and said it would take steps to get the company to pay up. “We’re going to reach out to the company in any way we can while limiting the inconvenience that New Yorkers might face,” said Owen Stone, a finance department spokesman. “We’re going to look into it and work with the company to resolve it.” The amount of overdue fines astounded and enraged many residents who have constantly battled the buses. “You’d think that you’d get to a point that if you got that many tickets, you’re not going to get another one —you’re going to get arrested or towed,” said Chris Jordan, who lives near the New Century stop and has called 311 repeatedly about the buses. “They’re not giving anything back to our neighborhood. They’re just taking from it.” A handful of companies operating in the congested streets in southeastern Chinatown owe on average $5,600 in fines, but New Century Travel, owes at least $136,387.35, according to finance department records. The majority of its 1,245 tickets are overdue and some date to July 2007.
Some of New Century’s tickets are in court, and in about a month’s time, a small number of them disappeared, possibly having been paid, reduced or thrown out. The total amount owed, however, has increased during that time. Earlier this year, the company tried to get a permit to park legally in front of its storefront on Allen Street but was denied. New Century owners did not respond to requests for comment, but a manager who identified herself as Ms. Gu said that when the company gets tickets from drivers, it pays them. “We tell drivers they should give us the tickets,” she said. “Sometimes occasionally there are one or two tickets overdue over time … We will solve the problem.” Police have tried to combat illegal bus parking problems in the area with ticketing, giving out 1,046 summonses — mostly parking violations — between October 2008 and February 2009, compared to 189 during the same time period the previous year. “It’s really unfortunate that it’s necessary for [the police] to spend so much time on these bus problems, particularly when it’s really not doing any good,” said Susan Stetzer, district manager for Community Board 3, which covers the area. “They’re using public streets as their locations to make money as a private business and on top of it, they’re not even paying fines. It’s loss of revenue for the city.” The police have also sought to tow buses with overdue tickets, but have been told by towing marshals that the vehicles can’t be hauled because they are leased and there’s limited space to store them. Residents and local officials feel New Century’s parking fines are emblematic of a problem they’ve long tried to solve. “I wish the government could pick a place for all the buses to go over,” said Christine Wong, who works at Wedding Garden Center, a bridal salon where brides sometimes can’t reach their limos or the salon because of the congested streets and sidewalks. “They get ticketed every day. They have no place to park.”
----------------------------------------------Top ten parking scofflaws in NYC:
Hertz Vehicles LLC $353,905.12
AA Truck Renting Corp. $274,627.88
New Century $136,387.35
GSS Rentals $129,531.81
United Limousine Service Inc. $125,684.90
TSS Realty $118,176.78
Bergen Rent A Car $97,117.42
PCC Produce $90,979.46
Alexander Khamish $84,382.07
Brock Trucking Company $80,952.20 Source: Dept. of Finance
*The top two are working to resolve debts. New Century includes tickets that are not yet overdue. mnaanes@am-ny.com
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