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As DropCar named Barclays Center's official valet service, formerly public street becomes monetizable dropoff zone

Dec. 6, Atlantic Avenue outside Barclays Center
What exactly was going on here yesterday afternoon outside the Barclays Center on Atlantic Avenue, a few hours before the Brooklyn Nets played the Golden State Warriors?

As indicated in the photo at right, it looked like several cars were being parked, at least short-term, in a no-standing zone near the VIP entrance to the arena.

And that extended zone was created blocking off formerly public space: two lanes of the street--right behind the cars--for construction of the West Portal connection from the Vanderbilt Yard to the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Terminal.

Enter DropCar

The new parking area somehow coincides with a new, app-based mobile valet service, DropCar, being named the official valet service for Barclays Center. (Think Uber for valet parking.)
Indeed, that area is marked as the dropoff site for DropCar customers, as indicated in the screenshot below from the Barclays Center web site.

That was a public street--and should be--and has been a temporary work zone. How come it's now an asset to monetize?

DropCar, as shown in the screenshot, indicates that customers can pick up keys and a garage ticket, which implies the cards are being moved to a nearby garage.

From Barclays Center web site
That sounds like the DropCar service known as "TOM: transfers your car to a nearby garage when you’re running late, and you pick it up. ($9/transfer)"

DropCar will also wait in your car

Then again, keep in mind that DropCar also offers:
- WILL: waits in your car while you jump into your meeting, watch the game, swing by the doctor, rock out at the concert, go shopping, pickup your kids, grab dinner, etc. ($10/hr, max 3 hrs)
- VAL: valets your car for the day, picking it up & dropping it off wherever you are. ($40/day)
With those services, presumably DropCar could simply have an employee/associate wait at the while hover over a hydrant in a nearby neighborhood, or find a free on-street parking spot. Indeed, that's what DropCar advertises.
No wonder arena neighbors, who've already seen vehicles serving arena attendees monopolize free street parking as well as no-parking zones in front of hydrants, are wary.
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Comments

  1. Mark Randall3:46 AM

    Residents of an area shouldn't have their lives disturbed just because someone thought they could earn more money by renting out space like that.

    ReplyDelete

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