The Regional Transportation District’s park-n-Ride program has helped lure commuters to light rail and express bus lines. But a growing number of riders often jam those parking lots, which then become chokepoints that limit additional growth in transit ridership.
If RTD is going to succeed in its mission of reducing the congestion on our highways, it needs to develop more parking as well as find other ways to get riders from their homes to transit stations.
That’s why we’re heartened to see RTD considering the possibility of creating new parking garages that would provide guaranteed reserved spots for riders willing to pay for them. The Post’s Jeff Leib outlined those efforts in a story Thursday.
Some riders told Leib they objected to paying for something they now get for “free.” (That parking isn’t really free, of course, since taxpayers have to pay for it.) Other riders, tired of fighting for parking spaces in lots that are often jammed at 7 a.m., said they would be willing to pay for guaranteed reserved parking. Fortunately, a well-crafted program can work for both types of riders, by issuing bonds to create new parking, either by buying additional land or by building multi-story parking garages. The money paid by willing riders for reserved lots would pay off those bonds. Meanwhile, drawing riders onto the new, premium spaces would leave more of the existing spaces for riders unwilling or unable to pay for reserved spots.
RTD is still reviewing its parking options, and the board of directors won’t even discuss the subject before September. But we’ve been assured that nobody is talking about charging for existing free parking in lots that already have ample capacity. Given that fact, the idea of selling reserved parking to willing buyers and using the proceeds to expand total parking makes sense.
In addition, RTD should consider adapting the high-occupancy vehicle approach now in use on the Interstate 25 north corridor to park-n-Rides by offering free, reserved parking to vehicles that show up with two or more riders. Such free HOV parking would be a cheap way to encourage neighbors to carpool to the park-n-Rides.
We’d also encourage cities and counties to improve bicycle access to RTD stations. Pedaling a few miles to a transit stop is a healthy and environmentally benign way to increase transit ridership.
Finally, the region needs more bus circulator systems like those in Boulder and Greenwood Village to funnel riders to and from transit stops. Working together, RTD and local communities can benefit themselves and the region’s commuters.
