The New York City Council has passed legislation requiring the city to give dedicated parking spaces to carsharing companies. This will be part of a two-year pilot study.

Sponsored by Council Member Mark Levine, the two-year program would provide a limited number of on-street parking spaces for carshare vehicles, according to the New York City Council.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) would report the results of the pilot program to the council, including its impact on driving and car-ownership of drivers, says the council. Participating carshare companies would need to share data with the DOT.

“New York is home to more than a 1.4 million cars, and as anyone who’s ever looked for a parking spot in Borough Park, Forest Hills, or anywhere in Manhattan knows all too well, it is a brutal and time consuming process,” said Levine. “Carsharing programs have extraordinary potential to solve this problem while increasing quality of life by reducing road congestion and growing the number of people who have access to cars. The quality of life, economic, and even environmental benefits of these programs are significant. The research is clear that for every one shared car put on a city street, between 5 and 10 less fuel efficient cars are taken off.”

The pilot could start as early as this summer. It will provide 300 dedicated street parking spaces as well as another 300 spaces reserved in municipal lots.