Is more parking always the best solution?
December 5th 2007 07:29 am
According to an article in the Trenton Times, West Windsor Township is continuing to wrestle with parking problems at the Princeton Junction train station. The latest proposal is to build a 1,000 space parking garage:
According to the TimHaahs Engineering/Architects study privately commissioned by Goldin for an undisclosed fee, it would cost $29.2 million to build a 1,000-space garage at the train station at a cost of $25,000 per space plus related costs.
To break even with no funding required and the expenditure burden placed on people who park, monthly parking fees would be $210 ($2,520 a year), according to the study. However, if the township decided to subsidize the facility with $19.5 million in capital, a monthly fee of $100 or $1,200 yearly would make the garage financially “self-sufficient.”
Current parking fees range from $400 to $660 yearly and are paid in quarterly segments. Current parking is ground surface.
Note that the parking fees in the garage would be 2 to 6 times higher than the current parking fees. What’s wrong with this picture?
Also note that there is very little bus service to the train station, with just a few rush-hour trips. Hmmm… More problems with the picture.
For $29 million, it should be possible to implement a shuttle bus system that serves people who live and work in the area. Instead of building parking spaces at $25,000 each, start running free or low-cost shuttle buses. People will ride them. Take a look at Maplewood, which rejected a parking garage years ago. Instead, they added shuttle buses (which NJ Transit said no one would ride!), and now 12% of the train station passengers ride the bus to or from the station.
For those of you interested in the parking situation at Princeton Junction, the West Windsor Parking Authority and township council will hold a special public meeting on Saturday, December 8, at 1 pm, at the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company, 153 S. Mill Road in Dutch Neck.
Joe Versaggi responded on 05 Dec 2007 at 8:26 am #
While NJT’s long-standing corporate culture is to sneer at feeder buses (71% of their ridership are bus passengers), they plan to kill the Dinky rail service and make it just that, despite anemic loads on the infrequent 600 route, paraleling US1 and serving Princeton Jct Rail station.
In the mean time, Suburban Transit has extended their Princeton-PABT bus out to Quakerbridge Mall, where there is plenty of free parking.
LRTADV responded on 05 Dec 2007 at 2:16 pm #
I live in nearby East Windsor Township. There is a shuttle that starts its run at my development. If I were to use the bus, it would take me at least 45 minutes to get to the train station as it visits every neighborhood west of Rt. 130. If I drive, it takes me about 12-15 minutes to get to my parking space at the Junction and I don’t have to wait for the bus or risk getting to the station just as my train is pulling out. If I’m not working in NYC or Philly, I have to pay to hold onto a permit that I seldom use. If I surrender the permit, I would have to get in line and wait for SIX years to get another one as a non-West Windsor resident. One of the many surveys conducted indicated that people in East Windsor would use the MOM line. I could see myself driving to a Herrod Blvd. staion to get that train. A future, and I mean distant future possibility for the myopic officials in the area would be to board an LRT on the Hightstown Industrial track at a Hightstown or East Windsor North station steps away from my home and transfer to the MOM line at Jamesburg……sigh…
Bob Scheurle responded on 09 Dec 2007 at 8:44 am #
Here’s an article about Saturday’s meeting:
http://www.nj.com/timesoftrenton/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1197176881165820.xml&coll=5
Note the guy who thinks West Windsor residents should be allowed to pay $20,000 for their own permanent parking space at the station. The parking space would be transferred as part of home sales.
Joe Versaggi responded on 11 Dec 2007 at 7:39 am #
If the parking space is transferred as part of one’s home sale, do that make it subject to the real estate transfer tax when title changes hands ? If so, that shows why local and state government would be in favor of this. Anything for them to get money.