Methodology

Where every number comes from

Every statistic on this site is computed from public records by a re-runnable pipeline, or carries an inline citation. This page documents the build, current as of June 2026.

Source

Primary source: OATH Hearings Division Case Status on NYC Open Data (dataset jz4z-kudi), published by the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. We refresh monthly; each page shows its data vintage. Currently 335,703 idling-charge records, of which 326,209 are DEP summonses from the citizen-complaint era (2019–present) used for most figures.

How we identify idling violations

A record counts as an idling violation when its primary charge description contains “IDLING” — these map to NYC Admin Code §24-163. We deliberately do not filter on the legal-citation column: it is inconsistently entered (e.g. “24”, “24 -163”, “A.C.”) and a citation-based filter would silently drop a majority of records. We verified the description filter in both directions against the citation and charge-code fields. Related but non-idling §24-163 charges (emission-technology and waste-hauling requirements) are excluded. Idling appearing as a secondary charge (<0.3% of tickets) is excluded because penalty amounts are recorded per ticket, not per charge.

The citizen-program subset

Citizens Air Complaint Program cases are identified as idling summonses issued by “DEP — Bureau of Environmental Compliance,” the channel citizen complaints are processed through. A small share of DEP summonses (especially pre-2019) are agency-initiated; other agencies (NYPD, Sanitation, BIC) issue a comparatively tiny number of idling summonses and are excluded from program-era figures.

Outcome definitions

• Upheld: hearing results Defaulted, In Violation, Admitted, Stipulated, or Settled in violation.
• Dismissed: result Dismissed.
• Pending: no recorded result, or Adjourned.
• Upheld rate = upheld ÷ (upheld + dismissed), i.e. of decided cases.

Company grouping

OATH names respondents inconsistently (“BRINK'S INCORPORATED” vs “BRINKS INCORPORATED”; multiple Verizon legal entities). We merge spelling variants and well-known brand families using an explicit, hand-maintained rule list — no fuzzy matching. Every company page lists the source spellings behind its numbers so any figure can be traced back to raw records. Where related legal entities are grouped under a parent brand, the grouping is visible on the page.

Derived estimates

“Estimated paid to citizens” applies the statutory 25% complainant share to penalties recorded as collected on program-era DEP idling summonses. It is labeled an estimate wherever shown: a small share of those summonses are agency-initiated, and payment timing varies. It is not an official DEP figure.

Known limitations

• Recency lag: recent months undercount because complaints reach hearings months after the violation.
• Paid vs. imposed: recorded payments can include late fees, judgment interest, and lump-sum collections, so for a few respondents “paid” exceeds “imposed.” A documented example: the city's 2026 recovery of more than $9 million in unpaid Amazon idling judgments (amNY, May 2026) lands in the records as payments collected years after the penalties were imposed. We report both fields as recorded.
• A summons is an allegation until upheld; pending cases are never described as violations committed.
• Respondent ≠ vehicle owner in all cases (leased and rented trucks appear under leasing companies).

Sanity checks

Each refresh must pass automated checks before publication, including reconciliation against independently published figures, internal consistency invariants, and statutory penalty ranges. A failed check blocks the site build. The current release's check report is public, and the underlying tables are downloadable.

Official references & corroborating coverage

Key external reference points our figures reconcile against, and independent reporting on the program:

• DEP — Citizens Air Complaint Program (official program page) and the official filing instructions.
• Local Law 58 of 2023 — extended the one-minute idling limit to parks; the citizen-complaint path dates to Local Law 58 of 2018.
• NYC Mayor's Office, April 2023 — names worst idling offenders; reports Amazon had paid $1,014,387 on 764 violations. Our reconciliation check uses this published figure.
• The New York Times, March 2022 — “$87.50 for 3 Minutes: Inside the Hot Market for Videos of Idling Trucks.”
• Streetsblog NYC, March 2026 and amNY, May 2026 — Amazon's unpaid-fines backlog and the city's subsequent $9M+ recovery, both consistent with what the OATH records show.
• City Council testimony, March 2025 — DEP on complaint volume straining the program.

Corrections

Found an error? Contact us — corrections are published on the affected page.