Sound Transit park-and-pay lots? (Seattle, Eastgate: neighborhoods, buy, subsidized)

[MaikeerinWA]

Are park-and-pay lots in commuters' future? | Local News | The Seattle Times

Not sure what to think of this idea, although I certainly recognize the problem.

Fortunately, the P&R I usually use (Eastgate) generally has plenty of parking. If they restripe, I'm sure people will still park their big SUVs in the "compact" spots.

[Hemlock140]

If they did that at ours (which never fills up) I would go back to driving, because at $4/gallon it would cost the same as parking and get me there and back a lot faster. Let's face it, charging to park is a revenue producer for them, not a way to reduce crowding. If they charge $4 to park that's more than the bus fare. They should build more (free) P & Rs to encourage more people to take transit.

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

If they did that at ours (which never fills up) I would go back to driving, because at $4/gallon it would cost the same as parking and get me there and back a lot faster. Let's face it, charging to park is a revenue producer for them, not a way to reduce crowding. If they charge $4 to park that's more than the bus fare. They should build more (free) P & Rs to encourage more people to take transit.

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, nor a parking space. The money that goes to provide 'free' parking is money that isn't spent on actually providing transit.

Now, that said, in some suburban areas due to the horrible land use, providing decent transit to all neighborhoods is impossible, so you need to provide park and rides. But they don't have to be free forever. Once there is crowding charging a modest fee is a good idea. Both get more use out of the existing spots (people are stashing their vehicle there) and to help defray the cost of building and maintaining that P&R. And it would encourage people who COULD walk, bike, or take a local bus to the P&R to catch their express/commuter bus or train, thus freeing up more spots for those people who live further out and don't have that option.

[sean98125]

The Eastgate garage cost $27 million to build. Makes sense to me that the people who use it contribute to paying it off. It also helps to keep revenue coming in to sustain service levels.

There are about 25,000 park and ride spaces in King County, overall. Just a buck a day on weekdays would generate almost $7 million a year in revenue for the transit systems. That is money that could be used to hire security, replace aging buses, have more frequent bus service, and improve the lots themselves.

It works for BART.

[Xanathos]

These are all great ideals for what the money COULD be used for, but I think we all know it'll just go straight into the union's pockets.

The transit system in this area is pathetic enough without giving people even more of a motivation to not use it beyond its horrible infrastructure. But whatever, I don't use it anyways, so it's someone else's fight.

[Ancalagon]

I'm not sure you understand the difference between Sound Transit and King County Metro.

[Freebird2007]

they should have done this long ago instead of cutting back bus routes. too late now, I drive.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Amazon.com: The High Cost of Free Parking (9781884829987): Donald C. Shoup: Books

Parking spaces are expensive. Why should the rest of the system subsidize these commuters' parking so heavily? Charge for the spaces.

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown

Amazon.com: The High Cost of Free Parking (9781884829987): Donald C. Shoup: Books

Parking spaces are expensive. Why should the rest of the system subsidize these commuters' parking so heavily? Charge for the spaces.

Yep, especially when Commuter Routes are so subsidized already. By their very nature the best they can hope for is to run at half efficiency.

[Ira500]

The reason parking spaces are subsidized is because when Sound Transit was created, we voted for that. It wasn't " It'll be free until it becomes too successful.".
I do have mixed feelings about this, but the function of government is not to provide a financial return, it's to provide a service. The fares from Metro bus service in Seattle provide about 25% of the cost of operating, I imagine Sound Transit is similar. If there were no bus or rail service, it would make the quality of life for a lot of people significantly worse. Rather than charge for parking at park and ride lots because they've gotten too full, maybe they should find additional parking places nearby.
The money that went to building these parking lots did not come from the funds used to operate the buses, and any money received from charging for them will not go to increase bus service. They might buy more buses, or build new buildings, but they don't co-mingle the funding in this area.
I know: Some people are going to say" You don't HAVE to live in a place where you have to drive to a park and ride. You can live closer to the bus route."
I'm sure that a lot of people will drive if they start charging to park, and that kind of defeats the purpose of public transit, doesn't it?