Metro Seeking Input on (Automobile) Parking Management

On-demand bike eLockers at Aurora Village

King County Metro has put out a survey on managing their parking at park & rides.

Metro needs a push from the public to take the leap into doing management programs even as tepid as what Sound Transit has done, and are fully aware people also use their parking lots to go to businesses nearby. In fairness to Metro, Sound Transit's permit parking program just became permanent last year. (This is an example of getting movement out of one agency where another fears to tread, as a counter-example to those calling for one monolithic transit agency.)

Though it is not the primary purpose of this survey, you can chime in about bicycle parking (or dearth thereof), pedestrian access to park & ride bus stops, and bus routing at these stops (especially when serving the park & ride with an off-street stop costs ridership up the line and does not save any time for riders boarding and alighting at that stop).

Between Metro and Sound Transit, there are just over 500 leasable bike lockers at 40 sites around the county. (Compare that with the 26,000 stalls planned for parking cars, just along the proposed light rail spine.) There are also 76 on-demand eLockers at 11 sites, all operated by Metro, but none of them at current light rail stations. However, there are now cages at Beacon Hill Station (holding 48 standard bikes) and Tukwila Sounder Station (holding 40 standard bikes), both operated by Sound Transit. Angle Lake Station will feature both eLockers and 4 bike lockers and a bike cage that can hold up to 24 standard bikes. All Sound Transit stations and major Metro facilities have bike racks.

The deadline to do the survey is Friday, August 19.