July 31, 2012 · Derek

Sound Transit Pay-Park-n-Ride?

Sound Transit riders who park in some of the ST park and ride lots may soon have to pay a fee park in those spaces.

The lots are currently free, which encourages ridership, but it also allows for non-bus riders to use the lots, and for vehicles to be left for more than 24 hours. This has led to lots that are regularly over capacity, and with ridership up on Sound Transit, demand for those spots is also up.

Sound Transit is considering a fee of $2 to $4 daily, which, if adopted, would go into effect sometime next year. They are also exploring ways for riders to use their ORCA cards to pay for parking, and then to apply that cost towards their transit fare.

What do you think? Would a couple bucks for parking be just enough to deter you from riding? Or would you pay it gladly if it meant fewer freeloaders not riding the bus?

14 comments

Chris July 31, 2012

For context, $2 would get you an hours parking in Seattle in some places. $2 a day is not terribly unreasonable, and could provide a revenue source for at least garage upkeep.

Erik B’s stance on this is that pricing should vary to enable 15% vacancy. I’m not sure if ST is up to that task, but the usage of ORCA might open a few technical possibilities.
Rosemary Gredler July 31, 2012

1) Build more parking
2) Off site parking for van riders who only meet and don’t need bus or train.
3) Offer reserved parking space for people who want to pay and be assured a spot
4) pay small fee and apply to ORCA card seems reasonable
5) Seatac link station is lame. Should be parking garage not parking lot. How absurb is this?
Stephanie July 31, 2012

I work at ST, ride an ST bus daily to get here and would be furiious if they started charging me to park at the lot. It is an absurd idea. Perhaps instead people could get a sticker for their car window or something that indicates they ride a bus, or whatever, from this lot. Without the sticker, a parking ticket. But paying to park to then ride the bus? No way.
talus July 31, 2012

Crediting all or part of the parking fee toward a bus ride through an Orca card or transfer slip seems like a great idea. I’d happily pay a little bit extra if it meant having parking when I need it. That said, I usually ride my bike down there or catch an ST express bus downtown instead. Speaking of bikes, maybe some of the fees could go to more/better bike racks so people have more good alternatives to driving.
1Tacoma_1 July 31, 2012

I would like to see PT coordinate their schedules better with ST. Then Pierce County folks that want a door to door bus trip could do so and avoid a parking fee.

As it stands now, until PT gets funding for more service, it is impossible for PT to match up to all of the sounder trains and 59X buses.

Those parking lots weren’t free to build, so a nominal fee to use them makes sense to me. And I do use them, so I would be paying when I don’t bike commute.
AreteTacoma July 31, 2012

Paying to park in garages that cost tens of millions to build is a no-brainer. It is also perfectly reasonable to apply some of the parking fee to the transit ride via an ORCA card.That would provide a discount for transit riders, over general parking and encourage more people to to get their ORCA cards which should increase ridership. I would support some of the parking fee being non transferable to incentivize less parking and more transit use.
fred davie August 1, 2012

People who use transit are saving thousands of dollars per year, so I don’t have any problem charging them a nominal amount to park their gas guzzling cars. I would say $10 per 12-hour increment would be about right. Orca card OK, also use VISA/MC credit/debit. That technology is available now.
Jesse August 1, 2012

How about they leave parking free and up the cost of a ride to keep ridership up and keep people from simply parking at the next bus stop. Then they could use a system of getting the parking validated on the bus/train in a punch tab machine and then having the lots be pay to park for non-riders and validated free parking for riders.
JJ August 1, 2012

Tacoma should just ban on street parking too throughout the entire city.Make all parking on streets a Tow a Way zone.
Zaqar August 6, 2012

We paid for and own these garages and parking lots. If ST can arrange it so the fee goes toward a bus fare, perhaps as an ordinary transfer, I’m for it.
Vicki August 7, 2012

I do not think we should be charged to park when we are taking public transportation. Stickers for our windows would be a good idea so it is known if someone is there because they are a commuter or not. The transit garages and park & ride lots are to encourage people to take public transportation to get cars off the road. If there is a charge to park I think more people will just begin driving and thus defeat the whole purpose. A very poor idea and probably just another way to make money.
Christine August 8, 2012

I use the transit centers very infrequently (2x per year?) as a place to meet for carpooling. I take the ST bus almost never, and when I do, I link from a local PT route.

That being said, I thought the goal of the Park ‘n Ride was to get cars off the road and carpooling is a way. Now maybe carpoolers could pay a little fee, 2 or 3 bucks? But any more and many will just decide to drive themselves.

I do like the idea of better coordination between PT and ST, but that would probably require better funding and we all know how that’s going.
Brian August 22, 2012

Perhaps the question is, what non-ST travelers are parking in those lots, and why? I didn’t think Freighthouse Square was getting that much customer traffic these days, and there are currently several short-term parking spaces available to them. If there are carpoolers using commuter spaces, I feel like allowing that to continue is still supporting the goal of keeping cars off the road. If the goal of a parking fee is truly to discourage use by non-commuters to open up spaces, perhaps we should instead remove the short-term parking spaces and make them available to commuters for all-day parking. Freighthouse Square has its own separate (paid) parking lot anyway.
jamie August 23, 2012

Besides ST travelers, carpoolers, and Freighthouse visitors, the Tacoma Dome Station is pretty heavily used by downtown Tacoma workers and UWT students who don’t want to pay for parking elsewhere.