NYC Anti-Idling Law

The NYC Administrative Code, Title 24, Section 24-163(a) states that “no person shall cause or permit the engine of a motor vehicle, other than a legally authorized emergency motor vehicle, to idle for longer than three minutes”. This includes buses and delivery trucks.

There are a few exceptions to this:

• When the temperature is less than 40 degrees F (vehicles having a seating capacity of 15 or more passengers i.e. buses)
• When the engine is powering a loading, unloading, or processing device
• When the vehicle is a legally authorized emergency vehicle, such as an ambulance

When motor vehicles are idling adjacent to a public or non-public school vehicles may not idle for longer than one minute unless they are a legally authorized motor vehicle. Idling summonses don’t carry points but have high fines associated to them. Fines can reach up to $2,000. NYC idling summonses are sent to OATH court for their hearings.

NY State Anti-Idling Law

Under New York State law, heavy duty diesel trucks and buses may not idle for more than 5 minutes in a row unless the temperature is less than 25 degrees F and the vehicle is stopped for 2 hours.

There are exceptions to this law, including:

• When the engine is being used for an auxiliary function (loading/unloading cargo, mixing concrete)
• When running the engine is necessary for maintenance
• While legally authorized emergency vehicles are performing emergency services

Idling tickets don’t carry points but have high fines associated to them. Fines for NYS idling summonses can reach up to $15,000.

Citizens Air Complaint Program

NYC introduced the Citizens Air Complaint Program in 2018. The Citizens Air Complaint Program allows for everyday New Yorkers to file complaints of idling vehicles to the Department of Environmental Protection. New Yorkers can submit 3 minute videos to the DEP of motor vehicles idling and are incentivized to do so by potentially receiving 25% of the fines associated to the summons.

In fact many of the idling summonses issued are submitted by citizens through the Citizens Air Complaint Program.

If you have received a ticket or summons for an OATH hearing, Michael Block can help. Please contact us today for a free consultation.

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