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The Metro board will hear a promising proposal [PDF] that increases paid parking at nine stations on three Metro rail lines. According to The Source, the proposal will be presented to the Metro board this month, voted on in March, and go into effect in May if approved.
Charging for station parking was recommended under Metro’s 2015 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) review, which states: “Station parking is expensive to build and maintain” and “[parking] costs should be partially recovered to avoid giving park-and-ride customers the largest subsidies, to increase agency revenues, and to effectively manage parking supply.” APTA reviewers further stated that park-and-ride subsidizes higher income riders, decreases transit’s air quality benefits, and that it would be better to invest in convenient, frequent bus service.
Metro’s figures, included in the proposal [PDF] show that, even with expensive large parking lots at stations, only 8 to 15 percent of rail riders park at the station. The majority of riders arrive by bus; approximately a third arrive by “other methods” including walking and bicycling.
Metro justifies the pilot on the basis that “non-driving transit patrons are currently under the [accurate] perception that their transit fare is subsidizing parking” with “operations of parking are currently being maintained by Metro’s annual budget without generating any parking revenue to recover a portion of its costs.” Metro estimates the pilot 9-station program is estimated to generate approximately $600,000 in annual revenue.
Under the planned pilot, all Metro parking will be paid parking for the following stations:
- Metro Expo Line: La Cienega, Culver City, Sepulveda, Bundy, 17th/Santa Monica College
- Metro Gold Line: Sierra Madre Villa, Atlantic
- Metro Red Line: Universal, North Hollywood.
These nine parking lots represent less than a quarter of Metro’s parking portfolio; the majority of which remains free. Many of these pilot stations already charge for some parking on a monthly permit basis, and already experience a shortage of first-come first-served free parking. Others are new Expo 2 stations expected to fill up quickly. Metro’s pilot will include a new operating plan where TAP card readers will be used to verify that people parking are actually using transit.
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Streetsblog L.A. has urged Metro to end its wasteful parking subsidy policies. Free parking is a very expensive way to bolster Metro rail ridership.
While the new parking policy is an important step in the right direction, one concern is that the proposal remains fairly rigid in dealing with the very fluid realities of parking. The proposal continues the policy of the Metro board setting exact prices. Ideally, the Metro board would set specific parking policy, likely with target objectives, potentially including occupancy and revenue. From this board policy, Metro staff could manage price, increasing or decreasing price over time to meet objectives. Having the full board set exact prices could lead to localized political decisions that may not optimize the overall system.
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With new phases extending the Gold and Expo lines opening in 2016, parking demand at existing and new stations may well be difficult to predict. The Metro Gold Line Sierra Madre Villa Station currently experiences higher demand as the suburban terminus of the line; when the Foothill Gold Line extension opens next month, parking demand there will likely decline as it becomes the innermost of seven parking-heavy stations across the San Gabriel Valley. A somewhat similar dynamic could occur at the Metro Expo Line Culver City Station.
Station parking demand may also vary due to gas prices, technological advances, nearby parking supply (paid or unpaid), and other factors. Rather than lock in rigid rates, Metro might be better served by empowering its staff, instead of tightly prescribing them.
The Metro board will have chances to reevaluate the pilot, including a report back scheduled for September 2016.
If you drive to a Metro station with parking after rush hour, are you likely to find the lot full, or be able to park? Here’s a diagram to help you.
A Montgomery County couple that lives in a car-dependent area, but is interested in trying to use Metro, asked this question recently. They’re not going to use it for commuting, but might go downtown mid-day. The rush will have ended, which also means some parking lots might fill up, and they don’t want to go to a station only to find no spaces.
Unfortunately, Metro does not have a real-time tracker to tell riders (or potential riders) exactly how full a lot is at any given time. It would be great if an app could show you, but given everything WMATA has to do right now, it’s also understandably perhaps not the top priority.
We can, however, get a good idea from historical information. Metro does track how many people pay to park at each lot. Sherri Ly, WMATA media relations manager, sent this June 2015 parking report. It gives the parking capacity for each station and also the “utlization,” which is the number of people who paid to park per weekday, divided by the number of spaces.
The numbers are below, and Peter Dovak visualized this data in the above diagram. On the image, each circle’s area is proportional to the number of spaces in the lot, and the colored inner circle’s area is proportional to the average utilization for fiscal year 2015.
| Lot Capacity | Paid Utilization | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Station/Region | June 2015 | June 2014 | June 2015 | FY 2015 YTD | June 2014 | FY 2014 YTD |
MONTGOMERY COUNTY | ||||||
| Grosvenor | 1,894 | 1,894 | 103% | 98% | 103% | 98% |
| White Flint | 1,270 | 1,270 | 57% | 62% | 56% | 53% |
| Twinbrook | 1,097 | 1,097 | 65% | 61% | 65% | 60% |
| Rockville | 524 | 524 | 109% | 103% | 109% | 103% |
| Shady Grove | 5,745 | 5,745 | 91% | 85% | 91% | 86% |
| Glenmont | 2,998 | 2,998 | 82% | 81% | 82% | 73% |
| Wheaton | 977 | 977 | 31% | 29% | 31% | 31% |
| Forest Glen | 596 | 596 | 102% | 96% | 102% | 95% |
| Montgomery Total | 15,101 | 15,101 | 83% | 79% | 83% | 78% |
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY | ||||||
| New Carrollton | 3,519 | 3,519 | 91% | 81% | 90% | 84% |
| Landover | 1,866 | 1,866 | 41% | 39% | 41% | 40% |
| Cheverly | 500 | 500 | 96% | 81% | 96% | 85% |
| Addison Road | 1,268 | 1,268 | 51% | 50% | 51% | 48% |
| Capitol Heights | 372 | 372 | 89% | 80% | 89% | 80% |
| Greenbelt | 3,399 | 3,399 | 81% | 72% | 80% | 74% |
| College Park | 1,820 | 1,820 | 66% | 55% | 66% | 57% |
| P.G. Plaza | 1,068 | 1,068 | 46% | 46% | 46% | 44% |
| West Hyattsville | 453 | 453 | 95% | 84% | 95% | 86% |
| Southern Avenue | 1,980 | 1,980 | 61% | 52% | 61% | 58% |
| Naylor Road | 368 | 368 | 107% | 98% | 107% | 100% |
| Suitland Garage | 1,890 | 1,890 | 67% | 61% | 67% | 60% |
| Branch Avenue | 3,072 | 3,072 | 103% | 94% | 102% | 94% |
| Morgan Blvd. | 608 | 608 | 89% | 88% | 89% | 84% |
| Largo | 2,200 | 2,200 | 89% | 84% | 88% | 83% |
| Prince George’s Total | 24,383 | 24,383 | 69% | 69% | 77% | 71% |
| Maryland Total | 39,484 | 39,484 | 72% | 73% | 79% | 74% |
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | ||||||
| Deanwood | 194 | 194 | 51% | 49% | 54% | 49% |
| Minnesota Ave. | 333 | 333 | 116% | 106% | 101% | 103% |
| Rhode Island Ave | 221 | 221 | 98% | 101% | 106% | 102% |
| Fort Totten | 408 | 408 | 107% | 110% | 115% | 100% |
| Anacostia Garage | 808 | 808 | 40% | 45% | 50% | 45% |
| District of Columbia Total | 1,964 | 1,964 | 74% | 76% | 79% | 73% |
NORTHERN VIRGINIA | ||||||
| Huntington | 3,617 | 3,617 | 73% | 71% | 76% | 73% |
| West Falls Church | 2,009 | 2,009 | 62% | 66% | 104% | 95% |
| Dunn Loring | 1,326 | 1,326 | 85% | 85% | 106% | 92% |
| Vienna | 5,169 | 5,169 | 89% | 89% | 104% | 97% |
| Franconia | 5,069 | 5,069 | 74% | 71% | 77% | 72% |
| Van Dorn St | 361 | 361 | 103% | 107% | 114% | 108% |
| East Falls Church | 422 | 422 | 120% | 117% | 126% | 120% |
| Wiehle-Reston East | 2,300 | 100% | 82% | |||
| Northern VA Total | 20,273 | 17,973 | 81% | 79% | 91% | 85% |
| System Total | 61,721 | 59,421 | 75% | 75% | 83% | 77% |
Some lots show a utilization over 100%. That’s because if someone parks in a station, then leaves, and another person pays to park in that same space, it counts as two people. For a lot that’s totally full and has some turnover, the utilization can go over 100%.
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Ly said that in the parking industry, an occupancy level of 90% is considered “full.” Or to put it in terms that relate to riders, if a station is reliably over 90% filled, it’s risky to try to park there unless you arrive early. Much lower, and there’s a lot of space going unused, which is wasteful.
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At stations that fill up, Metro and the area governments could look into ways to help more people reach the station other than by driving. At stations that don’t, perhaps those are top spots to consider transit-oriented development on the parking lot, and where the developer doesn’t need to rebuild as many spaces as there are today.
Metro is organizing a series of movie nights at Metro station parking lots, partly to engage with surrounding communities but also to bring attention to generally underused parking lots. Upcoming movie nights will be August 8 at West Falls Church, which Ly said “saw a drop-off in parking once the Silver Line opened,” and August 22 at Twinbrook, both at 6:30 pm. Ly also said Metro will launch a campaign this fall to communicate where there is parking space in the Metro system.