Ice cream trucks in Central Park bike lanes get chilly reception from councilmember

Ice cream trucks illegally parked in or along busy bike lanes on Central Park West and Central Park South are endangering customers and cyclists alike, a local councilmember says.

The problem has gotten so bad around the park that Councilmember Gale Brewer dispatched staff to take a tally over six days on all of Central Park South and Central Park West from West 59th to West 96th streets.

Of 31 trucks spotted near the southern and western edges of the park, 19 were parked directly in bicycle lanes and adjacent buffer zones on Central Park. The councilmember’s team also found ice cream trucks clogging up crosswalks, bus stops and park entrances.

The ice cream trucks, Brewer said, are putting cyclists, cone-craving customers and cars on a collision course.

“I like the ice cream, but if you stand next to [a truck] getting ice cream, you are in the bike lane,” said Brewer, whose go-to order is a chocolate milkshake.

“ I guess if you’re really conscious of the bike lane, you stand on the sidewalk and shout to the gentleman, but then you still have to pay him, and in order to pay him, you have to go in the bike lane.”

Still, she said, it’s simply not safe to have trucks parked in the bike lane or customers standing there to order.

“I’ve seen very close calls,” Brewer said.

Brewer said she has gotten so many complaints about illegally parked ice cream trucks around Central Park that she’s asked the NYPD to take action.

“Although I understand the attraction of ice cream trucks parking near the park on a hot day in order to attract customers, I look forward to finding alternate, safe parking sites for these vehicles,” Brewer wrote in a letter dated July 17 to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

An NYPD spokesperson said the agency was reviewing Brewer’s letter.

Central Park West's protected bicycle lane was installed between 2019 and 2020, following the death of Madison Jane Lyden, an Australian bicyclist who was hit by a garbage truck after a livery cab swerved into the then-unprotected bike lane.

Brewer told Gothamist she did not yet have a solution.

She suggested trucks could park on the curbs opposite the park, or even in the park itself. Collaboration among the police, parks and transportation departments would be key, she said.

“Everybody has to sit down and figure it out. This is not an easy one to find an alternative for, but it is one to bring up before somebody gets hurt,” Brewer said.