Use of park-and-ride lots grows 11%
New facilities, bridge collapse prompt more commuters to park their cars
Put them in the right places, and people will use them.
That’s the message from a survey that showed use of park-and-ride facilities in the region grew 11% in the last year. The growth is tied to more capacity at the lots, according to Ginger Murphy, the survey’s project coordinator at Metro Transit.
Construction is under way on a parking ramp to expand capacity at the 28th Ave. station of Hiawatha light rail in Bloomington. When completed in 2008, the station will have 1,450 spaces, compared with 540 when the line opened. In the meantime, commuters are using temporary lots nearby.
The annual survey, conducted in late September and early October, showed that this year an additional 1,600 commuters are parking their vehicles and then boarding a bus or rail car to get to work. During the same period, metro area transit providers added approximately 4,500 park-and-ride spaces. The region’s park-and-ride capacity now totals nearly 24,000 spaces.
The Aug. 1 collapse of the I-35W bridge also contributed to the increase, Murphy said. The survey found that more new transit riders boarded buses at park-and-rides in areas affected by the collapse and continued to use the facilities at the time the survey was conducted. Those park-and-ride lots saw a 15 percent increase in use over last October, Murphy said.
Keeping up with demand
The growth is part of a longer-term trend. Commuter use of park-and-rides grew by 21% between 2004 and 2005, and another 5% the following year. The continued popularity of park-and-rides now means that some facilities are overflowing, Murphy said.
“The sustained growth over the past three years has resulted in the consumption of more than five years worth of projected capacity,” she said. “We are seeing 10 facilities near capacity, 11 at capacity and 14 over capacity.”
The past year saw a flurry of construction activity at park-and-ride lots across the metro area. Thirteen new facilities opened since the last regional survey, with the largest – the parking ramp at I-394 and County Road 73 in the west metro – providing 730 spaces for commuters. In addition, 12 existing lots expanded, adding a total of more than 1,100 new spaces.
In order to keep up with demand, the Metropolitan Council and local communities continue to explore options for immediate relief by leasing spaces while investigating more permanent options such as constructing additional facilities, Murphy said.
New lots open, more under construction
For instance, in December Metro Transit opened a new 225-space park-and-ride lot on the northeast corner of I-35W and Industrial Boulevard. The lot is on land donated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which agreed to let Metro Transit use the property through 2011.
That park-and-ride serves as anchor for new bus Route 241, which provides nine morning and nine afternoon rush-hour trips to downtown Minneapolis.
“This lot will provide additional relief to commuters who want to avoid congestion after the bridge collapse,” Murphy said.
Another park-and-ride facility that opened in December was the Mound Transit Center, providing 50 spaces on the top level of the City of Mound’s municipal parking ramp.
The largest facility under construction now is at the 28th Ave. station in Bloomington, where a 1,450-space ramp will open in 2008, replacing a 540-space surface lot.