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Park and Ride Lots Never enough parking....

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[quote user="gardendance"][quote user="Phoebe Vet"] I prefer the plan CATS has chosen.  They are making the lots bigger.[/quote]I also hope they explored the feeder bus system, expanding and or making it more efficient. Charlotte, Dallas and elsewhere, how convenient, economical, etc... is the bus to rail transfer? For example, I've seen lots of places where the kiss and ride drop off is right at the station entrance, but the bus drop off is many car lengths away. Even worse, sometimes the bus drops off, then drives to the far end of the parking lot to layover, returning to pickup. One possible explanation is to reduce fumes and noise at the station entrance if they need to keep the engine running to maintain intside heating or cooling, but that wears a bit thin. If the outside temperature's that extreme I'd prefer to be inside the bus napping and enjoy the fruits of the air conditioning,  instead of walking extra or waiting curbside in the elements.This thread's been concentrating on new systems. There are many grandaddy operations. For example Septa's 69th St subway terminal does not have very much parking, but instead has 3 light rail and a whole mess of bus feeders. A big difference of course could be that these suburbs grew up around public transit, so there might be fewer cul-de-sac houses a long hike from the bus stop.But it's also not necessarily true that once somebody gets into their car that they'll always drive all the way to work, even if there's no light rail. I lived for the past 20 years in Philadelphia's Fairmount-Art Museum neighborhood, a mile or 2 from city hall and the center of town. I knew quite a few folks who took advantage of free on street parking who would then take the bus the rest of the way to work. And since they were boarding near the center city end of the bus route they tended to have to stand. Of course outbound they had the same chance of getting a seat as a local person, but then they would vacate the seat sooner.I think Samantha's complaint about out-of-towners taking up highly subsidized seats in Dallas without paying their fare share in taxes started me on this tangent about different parking rates for taxpaying locals vs freeriding outsiders. So does anybody know if it's free to park in Dallas's lots?And Samantha, do you think Dallas would be better off if those out-of-towners drove all the way instead of parking and taking the light rail?[/quote]Parking for DART's light rail trains, where it is provided, as well as the Trinity Railway Express, is free.  The DART Board requested a study to determine the feasibility of implementing a parking fee at the DART and TRE lots as a way to pay to expand them.  As far as I know the study has not been completed.   The primary purpose of my post was to show one of the consequences of a highly subsidized system that draws extensively on a regional tax base to support it.  People outside the taxing district can use the system at the expense of the people who live inside the taxing district and help tote the note.   I don't advocate keeping out-of-towners off the trains.
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