is translink trying to lose ridership? parking lot increases!!! bad move??

[SpongeG]

i can't believe they are jacking prices up


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Transit parking rate hikes defended

TransLink is defending its decision to jack the rates it charges commuters to use parking lots serving West Coast Express as well as the Scott Road SkyTrain station.

A monthly pass for unreserved parking at West Coast Express lots rises from $15 to $40.

Users of the Scott Road Park and Ride will pay $2, up from $1, as of Sept. 1 or $40 for an unreserved monthly pass, up from $30. Also available are limited numbers of reserved parking spaces, which now cost $55 a month, up from $30.

“It’s still a good deal,” said TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie.

He said the new rates will help to offset the higher costs of operating, maintaining and patrolling the lots.

Even with the price doubling to $2 at Scott Road, he noted, the 1,500-stall lot will still be cheaper than Park and Rides elsewhere around the region that are privately operated by Impark.

Meanwhile, TransLink will continue to provide free parking at lots it operates elsewhere.

There’s no charge to use Park and Rides in South Surrey, East Guildford in Surrey, Walnut Grove in Langley, Lougheed in Coquitlam, two more in Richmond, two in South Delta and five lots on the North Shore.

Last year, TransLink considered adding fees in South Surrey but backed off in the face of local protest.

TransLink rider surveys in the past have shown people who own cars but choose to take transit are among the most sensitive to changes in the cost of transit versus driving.

But Margaret Mahan, executive director of Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST), doesn’t think the increases will cost the system riders who balk at the cost of parking and decide to stay in their cars.

“It is still going to be cheaper than bringing your car to wherever it is you’re going and better for the environment,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt transit usage.”

Demand for transit in the region so far outstrips TransLink’s available capacity, Mahan said, that the transportation authority could likely boost both fares and parking prices further without seriously denting ridership.

“They’ve got a massive supply problem,” she said.

http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/

[squeezied]

“It’s still a good deal,” said TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie.

he's got a point

[SpongeG]

i think Vancouver should go the route of Portland and provide free parking as they do at their park n rides

when we used it the lot was full

I don't look often but the lots for translink are rarely full

[nname]

The one in Coquitlam is almost always full. Every time I go there during late morning/midday, I can only find a few spots left on the north west corner (furthest away from the bus/wce station).

[David]

There’s no charge to use Park and Rides in South Surrey, East Guildford in Surrey, Walnut Grove in Langley, Lougheed in Coquitlam, two more in Richmond, two in South Delta and five lots on the North Shore.

Park and ride at Lougheed? Riiiiight.

[SpongeG]

Whopping TransLink parking raises are a big backward step

The Province


Wednesday, August 22, 2007


We are supposed to be encouraging people to get out of their cars -- or at least to get out of those they might otherwise drive into parking-challenged downtown Vancouver.

We are also supposed to be motivating as many people as possible to take part in the debate over transportation in the increasingly congested Lower Mainland.

That is why TransLink's high-handed decision to double daily parking fees for commuters at Scott Road SkyTrain and five West Coast Express stations -- and to dramatically increase the costs of monthly parking passes -- makes little or no sense.

All it does is encourage more suburban motorists in municipalities from Maple Ridge to Delta to forget about taking increasingly expensive public transit partway to work and to remain in their cars for the full journey.

Besides, as columnist Brian Lewis points out, the decision flies in the face of the democratic principles that should apply to the running of the region's transportation agency. Even TransLink's own board of directors does not appear to have been consulted on this issue.

As Lewis also notes, when B.C. Hydro or ICBC wants to increase its rates, it is required to justify them before a regulatory body -- into which the public has input.

TransLink's parking-lot cash grab, however, is both anti-green and anti-democratic.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ne...c-2a682fedc2e2