NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- New York will transform unused infrastructure and “abandoned spaces” like vacant newsstands into service stations where the city’s 65,000 app-based delivery workers can rest and recharge, officials announced Monday.
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The stations—called Street Deliveristas Hubs—will create a place for delivery workers to rest and seek shelter from the elements, as well as charge both their electric bicycles and cellphones.
The rest stops will also provide “numerous services” for the workers, including bike repairs, Mayor Eric Adams and Sen. Chuck Schumer announced in Lower Manhattan alongside Workers Justice Project/Los Deliveristas Unidos, a group that fights for delivery worker rights.
With the help of a $1 million federal grant secured by Schumer, the pilot program will renovate and transform underutilized structures on city properties into the hubs. The money will also be used to help renovate a center in Williamsburg for delivery workers.
No timetable for the effort has been released. The Parks Department still has to scope out locations and make sure the facilities are up to code.
Adams and Schumer touted the program as the first-of-its-kind in the nation for app-based delivery workers. The hubs will be in “high-traffic neighborhoods” with input from delivery workers and residents.
“Deliveristas are out there doing the hard work, day in and day out, and are essential to New Yorkers’ way of life and to our city’s economy, and essential workers deserve essential services,” Adams said in a statement. “While most people have a break room to rest while at work, app-based food delivery workers do not.”
The mayor said the program is way to make sure public spaces “serve all.”
Schumer vowed to continue to work with the mayor to “deliver better infrastructure for the thousands of app-based delivery workers serving our city,” as well as safer biking infrastructure.
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