I noticed one thing that tends to keep ridership down in Rail applications. Lack of parking seems to be the killer of applications. To get people to use the service, they need a place to park their vehicles. I’m not saying every station needs a huge garage but it helps quite a bit though.
In the Pacific Northwest, Sounder could continue growing it’s ridership at all of it’s stations if it had additional parking structures. Auburn, Kent are both very much at capacity while Puyallup, Sumner, and Tukwila does not have parking garages available. King Street Station in Seattle also does not have a parking option.
There is no “easy” solution but would charging for parking be an option for most commuters? Maybe, but in order to increase ridership, we can not have cars fill up neighborhoods and communities.
Do any of you have suggestions on what could be done to improve ridership?
I would gladly pay a reasonable parking fee if it meant there’d be some security so my catalytic converter wouldn’t be stolen out of my truck, as happened last week at a park and ride in Portland :( Bummer…
Ouch.. Sorry to hear that Aaron =(
I know most if not all of Sounder’s parking is video monitored and has security with frequent walk throughs. I also wouldn’t mind paying for a bit of extra security and extra parking. Lord knows no matter where your at, a little is a lot to demure some.