The Port Authority should Charge for Parking at its Park and Rides

If the Port Authority started charging to park at its most in-demand park and rides, it would increase transit ridership. This is counter intuitive, because usually charging more for something increases demand. The reason demand would increase is that a majority of the park and ride lots fill to capacity, some very early in the morning (e.g. before 7 a.m.). If there were parking fees, some of those early commuters would get to a bus stop by walking, biking or being dropped off, freeing spaces for people with later commute times. As it is, many people with a later commute don’t consider the park and rides because they know the lots will be full at the time they would have use for them.

As it is, most transit riders access transit by walking to the nearest bus stop. As documented on page 3 of the Port Authority’s 2018 annual service report, trips made to or from cars parked at the park and rides make up only about 3% of port authority trips. 

Some of the park and ride lots have better walk-sheds than others. I plan to write a future post comparing the walk sheds of the different park and rides. In order to maximize the number of people who substitute parking for walking, the Port Authority should work with the communities around the park and rides to improve pedestrian infrastructure to bus stops served by those routes.

In order to maximize ridership, the port authority should charge the lowest amount possible that ensures that there is nearly always a spot available for someone who wants to park in the park and ride. If the resulting price of parking exceeds the cost of adding new parking spots on the route, the Port Authority should borrow against future parking revenue to add additional spaces.  

The Port Authority should also allow for overnight parking in its lots. This would allow riders to park and take the bus to the train station, airport or other destination that requires them to be away overnight. Many of the park and ride routes utilize the East Busway, which provides excellent service to the train station. However, the routes cannot be used for this purpose since overnight parking is not allowed. The expense of parking downtown limits the ability of suburbanites to use Pittsburgh’s Amtrak service.

The additional ridership resulting from these changes would allow for increased service frequency, which in turn would draw further increased ridership.  Charging for parking at the park and rides would be a useful source of revenue that could be used for further service improvements.