Transit & Streets Reviewed 2026-08-17
How alternate side parking actually works
The sign with the broom, the rule almost everyone gets wrong, and the two ways the whole thing gets called off. What the city's own pages actually say about ASP.
The numbers that matter
- The sign
- A “P” crossed by a broom, with the days and times parking is not allowed (NYC311, Alternate Side Parking and Street Cleaning, read August 2026)
- The rule most people get wrong
- The posted time runs in full, even after the sweeper has already gone by (NYC311, Alternate Side Parking and Street Cleaning, read August 2026)
- Sundays
- ASP is not in effect, and the meters are free (NYC311, Alternate Side Parking and Street Cleaning, read August 2026)
- Called off two ways
- A published calendar of legal and religious holidays, plus unplanned suspensions for severe weather or emergencies (NYC311, Alternate Side Parking and Street Cleaning, read August 2026)
The sign with the broom
Alternate side parking is the city's deal with itself: the street gets swept, so for a couple of hours a week your car cannot be on that side of it. The whole system is posted on one sign, and the sign is doing more work than most drivers read into it.
ASP rules are posted on signs with a “P” crossed by a broom and indicate the days and times parking isn’t allowed.
Read the days AND the times. A sign is a schedule, not a general warning, and the two facing sides of one street run on different ones.
The rule almost everyone gets wrong
Here is the block-wide ritual: the sweeper rumbles past, and every double-parked driver on the far side pulls back in behind it. It feels like the rule just expired. It did not.
The rules apply for the entire time posted on the sign, even if a street sweeper has passed.
This is the most expensive misunderstanding in New York parking. The sweeper is not the rule; the sign is. Enforcement can come through after the truck.
And waiting it out in the travel lane is its own violation, which is the half of the ritual nobody mentions:
Double parking of passenger vehicles is illegal at all times, including when street cleaning is occurring, regardless of location, purpose or duration.
Sitting in the car does not make it legal. The rule names duration and purpose specifically because those are the two excuses.
The two ways it gets called off
ASP stops for a published list of holidays, and it stops for weather. The first you can plan around, because the city prints the calendar a year ahead.
ASP rules are suspended on certain legal and religious holidays each year. On Sundays, ASP is not in effect and you do not have to pay the parking meters.
The calendar is genuinely broad: Three Kings' Day, Purim, Idul-Fitr, Lunar New Year and Losar all suspend the rules. Sunday is the standing one.
The second kind arrives with no notice, usually snow, and it is the reason the status is worth checking rather than assuming:
ASP rules and sometimes parking meters may be suspended for severe weather or other emergencies.
Note the “sometimes” on meters. A snow suspension often lifts the sweeping rule and leaves you still owing the meter.
The city publishes the year's list itself, alongside the two triggers:
The City of New York suspends ASP rules on specific legal and religious holidays. The City also suspends ASP rules due to weather and emergencies.
DOT posts the calendar in fifteen languages and as a downloadable calendar file, which is the least-known useful thing on the page: the suspensions can just live in your phone.
What a holiday does not buy you
A suspension lifts the sweeping rule. It does not turn the curb into a free-for-all, and the distinction has a precise wording:
On major legal holidays stopping, standing and parking are permitted except in areas where stopping, standing and parking rules are in effect seven days a week (for example, “No Standing Anytime”).
A major legal holiday opens up the ordinary signs, but anything marked Anytime stays live. On the smaller religious holidays, only street cleaning is suspended.
Two rules never take a day off anywhere in the city. One is the hydrant:
It is illegal to park within 15 feet of either side of a fire hydrant, including on floating parking lanes (next to protected bike lanes).
The floating-lane clause catches people: the parking strip beside a protected bike lane counts.
The other is the backdrop to all of it, and it explains why a parking mistake here can escalate past a ticket:
All of New York City is a designated Tow Away Zone under the State’s Vehicle and Traffic Law.
Every block, always. Whether you get a ticket or lose the car is a matter of enforcement discretion, not of where you are.
The questions New Yorkers actually ask
Can I park after the street sweeper goes by?
No. The city's rule is explicit: the posted time applies in full, even if a sweeper has already passed. The block moving back in early is a shared gamble on enforcement, not a rule.
What does the sign with the broom mean?
It is the alternate side parking sign: a “P” crossed by a broom, followed by the days and times you cannot park there so the street can be swept. Each side of the street has its own days.
How do I know if alternate side parking is suspended today?
There are two kinds of suspension. Holidays are published a year ahead on DOT's ASP suspension calendar, downloadable as a calendar file so the dates sit in your phone. Unplanned suspensions, usually snow, are posted on the NYC Today calendar and NYC311, and you can sign up for email alerts.
Is alternate side parking in effect on Sundays?
No. ASP is not in effect on Sundays, and parking meters are free that day.
If ASP is suspended, can I park anywhere?
No. A suspension lifts the street-cleaning rule. On major legal holidays the ordinary stopping, standing and parking signs are lifted too, but anywhere those rules run seven days a week (a “No Standing Anytime” sign, for instance) they still apply. Hydrant clearance never lifts, and the whole city is a tow-away zone at all times.
Do the meters get suspended too?
Sometimes. Meters are free on Sundays and on major legal holidays. On a weather suspension the city may or may not lift them, so the sweeping rule going away does not mean the meter has.
The documents
The public records this page draws on. Read them yourself:
Now watch the machinery move.
These pages explain how the city works on paper. The morning brief is how it worked today: what changed, what it means for your rent, your commute, and your block, in plain language.
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