Vacant Newsstands To Become Small Havens For NYC Delivery Workers

NEW YORK CITY — Vacant newsstands will soon be transformed small havens where for tens of thousands of deliveristas, and their devices, can recharge, New York City elected officials announced Monday.

A $1 million federal grant will fund the conversion of the abandoned newsstands into hubs where food delivery workers can recharge their electric bikes and escape from rain, snow and sleet, Mayor Eric Adams said.

“Those vacant newsstands were perfect examples of how to properly use the infrastructure so that they can charge their batteries," Adams said. "They can take a break, they could get out of inclement weather."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the pilot program not only fulfills a need that deliveristas have long needed, it will also ease crowding on city streets.

“It will keep the streets and sidewalks orderly by allowing the deliveristas a place to congregate," Schumer said.

“It’s the first infrastructure of its kind for app-based delivery workers in the whole nation."

Officials noted one vital feature, to which app delivery workers have long been denied access, will not be installed in the new hubs — bathrooms.

However, a new local law that takes effect Jan. 1 will require restaurants to open their facilities to workers.

Adams demurred when asked how many hubs could feasibly be built with the $1 million secured by Schumer, but promised the program would likely expand.

“We’re going to see the usage, how populated it is, how much people enjoy it,” he said. "And we will evolve as needed."