DENVER-
Drivers would be able to pay to reserve spots in crowded Regional Transportation District parking lots under a measure given initial backing by the state Senate on Friday. The bill also allows RTD to hire an outside company to monitor whether cars parked in the lot belong to people who don’t live in RTD’s taxing district, which would allow them to charge out-of-district parkers.
Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, objected to both parts of the bill (Senate Bill 88) saying it’s wrong to allow “Porsche parking” in parking lots built with tax dollars.
Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, said parking lots at the edges of the district fill up, often because out-of-district riders park there. She said RTD should be able to charge people in those lots to persuade more people to park in other free parking lots.
Under the measure, 15 percent of parking spaces could be set aside for those willing to pay for reservation. Veiga said that’s needed to provide parking for people who arrive after the morning rush.
But Tupa said the real answer is expanding the district to reflect the growth of the Denver metro area in the last 20 years. He said some of his constituents in Boulder live 40 miles away from downtown Denver and are in the district but people in other counties who are just others 15 miles away are not.
