We thought we’d seen it all when it came to parking problems and gnarly issues with traffic management — and then came the army of Ubers. Surely you have noticed them by now, as they congregate in clusters waiting for fares: Mostly these for-hire cars working in the Uber and Lyft trade are late-model S.U.V.s., and mostly they are big, shiny, and black. Their drivers huddle in coffee klatches, socializing and taking a break by the side of the road.
The Uber drivers are doing a service for the people of Long Island; that is indisputable. They are stepping in to transport customers safely to their destination in a region where public transportation is sorely lacking. They are working hard and minding their own business. So what’s the problem?
The problem in East Hampton — as elsewhere — is that these cars are now here in great numbers, many have come from hours away, and their drivers have nowhere to rest or relieve themselves. Word on the street is that many of this summer’s drivers come from Flushing or Staten Island. This summer, residents and visitors all over town complained that they were congregating, leaving trash and cigarette butts by the side of the road, and that — in a coordinated fashion (possibly communicating via WhatsApp or Discord) — they had taken over swaths of public parking, elbowing out other would-be parkers.
According to reports on Facebook and the Nextdoor app over the last six months, unofficial Uber staging areas had sprung up all over town: in Springs, on the corner of Sycamore Drive and Hog Creek Road, where piqued residents angrily collected bags of trash left by the side of the road in August, and on Abraham’s Path near Springs-Fireplace Road; in Sag Harbor on Madison Street, where one resident complained of bottles of urine regularly left in the gutter; on the corner of David’s Lane and Main Street in East Hampton Village, where officials’ quick solution was simply posting “no parking” signs (unfortunately, in a parking area long relied on by the nearby Presbyterian Church); in Bridgehampton by the Starbucks; in Amagansett on Abram’s Landing Road near the golf course, in Northwest Woods, on Springy Banks. . . .
Now that summer is over, our local governments and thinkers have a bit of breathing room to come up with a better solution. Crucially, most of these ride-share vehicles don’t bear livery license plates, which makes regulating their parking (that is, banning livery cars) almost impossible.
The solution is to do what other tourist destinations have done: proactively create ride-share staging locations where drivers can use a restroom or porta-potty, and have a nap or a smoke and doughnut with friends. Las Vegas, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, has dedicated two large garages to this service. Suitable municipal space should be designated here and voluntary participation encouraged with the provision of toilets, trash cans, and perhaps even an overhead shelter. Just to get the conversation started, potential locations to be explored might include the long-term parking lot in East Hampton Village; the town Highway Department property on Springs-Fireplace Road or perhaps some reclaimed land at the nearby landfill; and maybe the Montauk Transfer Station. Let’s talk about it. Where the stick has failed, we need to use the carrot.