It's on the windshield · Street Cleaning Ticket

$65 for street cleaning. Is it worth fighting?

Parked during posted street-cleaning (alternate side) hours. New York's most famous ticket.

$65
A street cleaning ticket in New York City costs $65 — the same amount anywhere in the five boroughs. That figure already includes the $15 New York State surcharge, and it doesn't grow unless you answer late.
And here's the part nobody shows you
25.8%

of the 1,783,452 drivers who took this exact violation to a hearing had it dismissed outright — they paid nothing at all. Another 12.9% paid less than the ticket said.

Fine: New York City Department of Finance schedule, violation code 21, checked 2026-09-02. Outcomes: NYC Open Data hearing dispositions, computed 2026-08-31. Past outcomes don't guarantee any individual result.
On the ticket this prints as: NO PARKING-STREET CLEANING · violation code 21

Answer within 30 days and $65 stays $65.

The city gives you 30 days from the date on the ticket to ask for a hearing before late penalties start (nyc.gov — Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04). Miss it and you can still be heard, but a judge who finds you guilty will add the penalties. Leave it entirely and the ticket goes into judgment about 100 days after it was issued (same page) — after that the city can collect, and once judgment debt on your plates reaches $350 the vehicle can be booted, then towed if that is unpaid 48 hours later (nyc.gov — Booting and towing, checked 2026-09-04). So tonight is early. You have room.

Your odds on this exact charge

Of the 80 violation types New York publishes hearing outcomes for, this one is 5th by how often drivers contest it — 1,783,452 decided hearings. It lands almost exactly on the citywide 26.2% — no easier and no harder than the average ticket.

And look at the second number: 12.9 points of the outcomes are reductions, not dismissals. About 26 in 100 walked out paying nothing — 25.8% — and roughly 13 more paid a smaller amount. On this ticket, "I got somewhere" is more often a cheaper fine than a canceled one — worth knowing before you decide what a hearing is worth to you.

The price is the same in all five boroughs: $65.

If you only read one line of defense, read this one: Alternate side parking was SUSPENDED that day (holidays, weather, city announcements — check the date). That is the argument this charge turns on more than any other.
1,783,452 other drivers have already taken this exact violation to a hearing and had it decided. That makes it the 5th most-contested of the 80 violation types the city publishes — 6.6% of every contested ticket in the file. You are not the first person to think this one was unfair, and the city has written down how all 1,783,452 of those arguments went.

What to do tonight

  1. Get the one thing that proves it, before it disappearsFor this ticket that is photos of every sign on the blockface (or their absence). Photograph it tonight with your phone's date on, or scan it. Signs get replaced, receipts fade, and a photograph taken a week later is worth much less than one taken now.
  2. Ask for the hearing — online, on the app, or by mailAll three are free and all three are decided by the same hearing officers. The city itself says an in-person hearing is no more likely to end in a dismissal, and points people to the online, app and mail routes instead. By mail you fill in the back of the ticket, attach copies (never originals) of your evidence, and send it to the address printed on it. Start at nyc.gov — Dispute a ticket.
  3. Write the date on your calendar, not in your headThirty days from the date on the ticket. Answer inside it and $65 stays $65; answer late and a guilty finding comes with penalties on top. That is the whole clock.

Look — I'm not going to tell you you'll win. Plenty of people don't, and this page will say so when the city's own file says so. What I can tell you is that on this charge about 26 out of every 100 drivers who bothered to argue it walked away paying nothing, the argument costs you an evening and no money at all, and the city writes down every result whether it likes them or not. Read the numbers, take your photos, and decide with your eyes open. If something here is wrong, email me. One person reads that mail and answers it; expect a reply within a few days.

— Andrew at Axion Labs · hello@getaxionlabs.com

What actually wins

What to bring

Label it, and say what it proves. Start with photos of every sign on the blockface (or their absence) as "Exhibit A", and write one sentence under it saying what it shows. A photograph with no caption makes the hearing officer guess what you meant by it; a captioned one does not.
Free, nothing stored

Not sure this is even the ticket you have?

Put in your plate and state and we'll pull every open violation on it straight from the city's live records — what's owed, how long until each one hits judgment, and the dismissal rate stamped on each ticket. The plate never appears in the address bar and we store none of it.

Look up my plate →  ·  Or check this ticket for a fatal defect →

Questions

How much is a street cleaning ticket in NYC?

A street cleaning ticket in New York City costs $65 — the same amount anywhere in the five boroughs. Source: the New York City Department of Finance fine schedule, violation code 21 (nyc.gov — parking violation codes and fines), checked 2026-09-02. The amount already includes the $15 New York State Criminal Justice surcharge; late penalties and interest are added on top of it.

Is it worth fighting a NO PARKING-STREET CLEANING ticket?

The wins on this charge cluster around suspended alternate-side days, missing or contradictory signs, being IN the car ready to move, and sign poles stripped by construction. It costs you time, not money — the hearing is free — and 25.8% of the 1,783,452 drivers who took this exact charge to a hearing had it dismissed outright, with 12.9 points more ending in a reduced fine (NYC Open Data hearing dispositions, computed 2026-08-31).

What actually wins against a NO PARKING-STREET CLEANING ticket?

Alternate side parking was SUSPENDED that day (holidays, weather, city announcements — check the date) The signs on that block were missing, obscured, or contradictory — photograph the whole blockface, both ends. You were in the vehicle and prepared to move (outcomes vary by officer). The sweeper had already passed and posted hours were over / not yet begun per the ticket's own time. Bring: Photos of every sign on the blockface (or their absence), NYC's alternate-side suspension calendar for the date, Dashcam/phone timestamps, The ticket's stated time vs posted hours.

How long do I have to fight a $65 street cleaning ticket?

Thirty days from the date on the ticket to request a hearing before late penalties start, and about 100 days from issue before an unanswered ticket goes into judgment (nyc.gov, Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04). Requesting the hearing is free online, on the Pay or Dispute app, or by mail.

Where you were heard matters a little too: across all violation types the boroughs run from 23% to 31.1% dismissed outright. Those are marginals across every charge, not a figure for this one — we hold the city's borough totals and its violation totals, not the cross-tab, and we won't manufacture it. All five boroughs →

You now know what street cleaning ticket costs in New York ($65), that the city dismissed it outright in 25.8% of 1,783,452 decided hearings, and what the argument on it is. All three are free and stay free: the hearing costs nothing, the rate is the city's own figure, and the route is free at nyc.gov — Dispute a ticket.

What else turns up with a street cleaning ticket

Different charge, different odds — none of these is the 25.8% above. Each figure below belongs to the charge it sits on.

If you'd rather not write it yourself

Last, and small, and it changes none of the 25.8% above: the builder turns this page plus your own account of the street cleaning ticket into a hearing statement. Free to build, free to read, $12.99 for the clean copy. One payment. No subscription. No cut of your fine. Writing it yourself is free and always will be.

Found a defect, or your violation has strong dismissal odds? Turn your facts into a ready-to-file hearing statement.
Build your defense statement — $12.99 →
Flat $12.99 — we never file for you and never take a cut of your fine. You stay in control on the city's own site at nyc.gov.

← All 80 violation types, with what each one costs

Dismissal rates computed 2026-08-31 from NYC Open Data hearing dispositions. Fine amounts from the NYC Department of Finance schedule, checked 2026-09-02. Deadlines from nyc.gov, Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04. Boot and tow rules from nyc.gov, Booting and towing, checked 2026-09-04. Past outcomes don't guarantee any individual result.

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