In 2009, the city passed tough new regulations requiring drivers to stop their engines after three minutes (or within one minute if parked in a school zone), or face steep fines. The changes were intended to help lower NYC's high childhood asthma rates—the malady is the most common cause of hospitalization for New York children 14 years and younger. It was nice, feel-good legislation, but unfortunately it hasn't been much more than a feeling. Out of the 10 million parking tickets issued each year, traffic enforcement agents have only issued a few thousand idling tickets, and environmentalists are steamed. more ›

NJ Transit bus driver Thomas Truex, who had 26 years on the job, was found dead in his idling bus at the Port Authority bus terminal yesterday—five hours after he was supposed to have headed back to the Meadowlands to return the vehicle to the garage. Investigators say the death isn't being treated as suspicious, but the incident has the Port Authority and NJ Transit scrambling to do damage control. more ›

Yesterday the City Council held a hearing on proposed legislation that would revoke food truck vendors’ licenses if they received more than three parking tickets per year (which is common). Some 60 people packed the hearing room, which was ultimately closed due to overcapacity. Miss Softee live-blogged the rancorous meeting for Midtown Lunch, the Post covered it, and Diner's Journal dropped 1,265 words on the debate. To help you sort out your feelings on this divisive issue, here are our five favorite comments made during the public hearing: more ›

City Council members Jessica Lappin (from the UES) and Karen Koslowitz (from Queens) have introduced a new bill that would, according to Midtown Lunch, "give the Department of Health authority to suspend any vending permit issued to a truck with two parking tickets (i.e. feeding the meter or idling) in a 12 month period, and revoke the permit of a truck that receives three parking tickets in a 12 month period." The Council members say their constituents are fed up with food trucks idling all day and occupying precious parking spots, but food truck owners insist the bill would put them out of business. more ›

An unapologetic prankster heisted a cop car that was left running and unattended outside a greasy spoon in Morris Park early this morning. The officer didn’t even have time to order his breakfast before realizing the highway patrol vehicle was gone, and with it his loaded rifle. "All of a sudden I see a cop come out of the restaurant running. He was going crazy," said Sammy Obaid, an employee at a deli across the street from the Lydig Coffee House. "He was on the phone, making calls. He was freaked out." more ›

In April, Mayor Bloomberg signed a bill giving New York the toughest laws against vehicular idling; leaving your engine running for more than three minutes is punishable by fines ranging from $220 to $2,000 for repeat offenders. And the limit in a school zone is just one minute. At the bill signing, Bloomberg declared, "Those of us that want to leave a good life for our children, and want to have clean air for us to breathe, and clean water to drink... it's incumbent on us to really carry the fight." more ›