The Park-and-Ride Boondoggle

Streetsblog USA shares insights into a new study published by the Transportation Research Board finding that most park-and-ride facilities built by transit agencies waste money and land.

1 minute read

July 7, 2016, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

SounderBruce / Flickr

Angie Schmitt explains new research by Lisa Jacobson and Rachel Weinberger, who surveyed 37 American transit agencies about park-and-ride facilities.Their findings: "despite the expense of park-and-rides and the fact that many spaces go unused, most of the 32 agencies that manage parking are still planning to build more of it."

Schmitt goes onto summarize six of the big takeaways from the survey, including:

"Most agencies don't charge for parking"
"All agencies lose money on parking"

and the kicker:

"Most agencies are expanding parking anyway"

According to the study, agencies build unnecessary parking mostly because of the availability of funding—which points to flawed policy somewhere along the line.

FULL STORY: Park & Rides Lose Money and Waste Land — But Agencies Keep Building Them

Tuesday, July 5, 2016 in Streetsblog USA

Infrastructure Land Use United States Park-and-Ride Academic Studies Transit Agencies View More

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