Long Island Mike
Senior Member
GO may trim parking in future expansion plans to discourage car use
Nov 07 2012
Read More: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/a...-future-expansion-plans-to-discourage-car-use
Planners at GO Transit are trying to figure out how to provide enough parking at train stations to support ridership growth while convincing people there are better ways to get to the station than driving. About 60 per cent of GO rail riders drive to the station. Twenty-one per cent walk, cycle or take transit and the remainder use kiss and ride or carpool, Joshua Engel-Yan, a senior adviser in strategy, policy and system planning at Metrolinx, told a sustainable transportation conference in Hamilton Tuesday.
- The transit agency has beefed up bike lockups to encourage cycling and works with municipal transit authorities to boost service to stations, said Engel-Yan. It is giving priority parking to carpoolers, too. But the parking crunch continues and is expected to only get worse as the GO system expands. Metrolinx, which operates GO, will produce a parking strategy next spring. GO Transit manages 62,000 parking spaces, making it one of the largest parking operators in North America. Yet 31 of GO's 62 stations are above capacity for parking, said Engel-Yan. That has commuters in some cases parking more than one kilometre from the platform, parking illegally within the GO lots or waiting up to an hour to get out of a lot. “People crowd the doors of the train and literally run across the lot to try to get out quickly,†said transportation consultant Steven Bishop.
- In a customer survey, 30 per cent of GO users who drive to the station would be willing to try a different method to get there and 85 per cent said they would still use GO if parking lots were full. “There is opportunity there to shift people out of their cars.†The Drummond report into provincial finances recommended that GO charge for parking. Right now, only reserved parking comes at a price: $80 a month. There are about 4,000 reserved spots across the system. “Metrolinx is currently looking at best practices elsewhere in terms of revenue tools, including paid parking,†Anne Marie Aikins, manager of media relations for Metrolinx. “Everything is under review but at this time no decisions have been made.†Providing parking is by no means free. Most surface lots — where the cost of each space ranges between $6,000 and $7,000 — can't be expanded. Spots in multi-level parking garages cost $30,000 to $35,000 each and are three and a half times as expensive to maintain ($350 a year per spot).
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MARK: Interesting topic here...How many GO Rail stations with large parking lots are considered "Magnet" stations
so named because they serve a large drive-in market from a wide area or region?
I live near what probably is the best example of a "Magnet" station: Ronkonkoma on the LIRR's Ronkonkoma Branch...
On January 18,1988 the LIRR extended electrification from Hicksville to Ronkonkoma-that was the first day of full service...
The 25th Anniversary is coming up in January 2013 of thru electric service to Penn Station-New York...
The ridership at Ronkonkoma has grown to be the second busiest single LIRR station over time...only Hicksville is busier...
Ronkonkoma is basically surrounded with parking lots and even with space numbers in the thousands more parking is
still needed there...this station draws riders from all over central Suffolk County and eastern Long Island...
Which GO rail stations accomodate the largest numbers of vehicles? I find it interesting that this change
de-emphasizing park-and-ride ridership in favor of other access will be occurring...
Will this change affect GO rail ridership in any way? LI MIKE