Park-and-ride facilities experience high demand

Transit agencies plan major additions in near future

Use of park-and-ride lots in the seven-county region grew just five percent between 2005 and 2006 — compared to 20 percent the previous year — but it isn't for lack of demand. The challenge for Metro Transit and other regional transit providers is to create new spaces fast enough to meet the need.

Riders boarding bus before dawn at Eden Prairie park and ride

Before the sun comes up, riders board express buses to Minneapolis from the SouthWest Station in Eden Prairie.

While several significant expansion projects are in the works, only 220 net spaces were added between September 2005 and September 2006. More than 880 spaces were added, but 660 were removed to accommodate expansions or because they weren't being used.

Better times are ahead. More than 5,500 new spaces are expected to become available between 2007 and 2010. And since the annual survey of park-and-ride use was conducted in October, 460 new spaces have opened and 500 more are expected to open by the end of December.

Express bus ridership grows faster than parking space

In 2006, ridership growth on express routes outpaced growth in the use of park-and-ride lots. Ridership on Metro Transit's express routes was up 11.5 percent in November compared to a year earlier, and ridership on suburban-run express routes has grown at least as much, according to Len Simich, CEO of SouthWest Metro Transit.

"We've had double-digit increases in ridership this year and it's still growing," Simich told the Metropolitan Council's Transportation Committee. "We're scrambling to find overflow parking." Riders cope in a number of ways — some choose to get dropped off rather than park, and a few bike to the bus stop. Still others find ways to park nearby, sometimes illegally.

More than two dozen park-and-ride lots are at or over capacity, and another four are 90 percent full, according to Metro Transit's annual report on park-and-ride use. While undertaking significant scheduled expansions, the transit agencies are also adding temporary reliever facilities as fast as they can, said Craig Lamothe, manager of facilities planning for Metro Transit.

"It's gratifying to see the big increase in express ridership," said Mary Hill Smith, chair of the Metropolitan Council's Transportation Committee. "It shows people want the service enough to do whatever takes to get there."

Bus rider getting dropped off at Park and Ride lot in early morning

More people are being dropped off at park-and-ride lots as spaces fill up.

In seven years, facility use has more than tripled

Since 1999, the region has expanded park-and-ride capacity by 177 percent, but the number of users has grown 223 percent. In raw numbers, the system has grown from about 7,000 spaces and 4,700 users in 1999 to 19,400 spaces and 15,200 users in 2006. Between now and 2010, the region's transit providers will expand or build more than a dozen major facilities (adding between 250 and 650 spaces at each facility).

See a list of proposed new facilities.

Limited funding has played a major role in the agencies' inability to keep up with the demand for new park-and-ride capacity and more express service, according to Simich.

Riders coming from increasing distances

The transit agencies count the number of vehicles parked in the lots every October, and some years, including 2006, they also take the license plate number of each car in order to determine where users are driving from. Simich said the number of people who are traveling from long distances outside the metro area is increasing, especially to park-and-ride lots served by Maple Grove and the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority. Plates have been registered from St. Cloud, Rochester, Mankato and even Duluth.