Park and ride fees at Century Park leave many commuters cold

Free parking at the Century Park LRT park and ride lot jumped invalue Thursday when three-quarters of the stalls became reserved paidstalls.

Muhib Rahmatalla, who has parked at the lot forthe last five years, arrived at 6:15 a.m., 45 minutes earlier than usual.

He's nowreconsidering how he gets to work each morning. He'd like to apply for a reserved stall at $50 a month, but knows he would spendyears on the waiting list.

"Fifty dollars is not much, but the point is waiting to get access to the park. What am I going to do during this period of applying and waiting until I get it?"

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Alex Cote said he too isleaning towards giving up parkingin the lot.

"If I got to pay for both parking and a bus pass, I think it's going to be a lot cheaper for me to find parking where I work," he said.

"Everything I thought was convenient about [parking here]has been weeded out."

New paid parking stalls have some commuters weighing options

8 years ago

Duration 0:56

Some drivers are questioning the value of public transit since the additional paid parking spots came into effect at Century Park LRT park and ride Thursday.

Commuter Larissa Ulcar finally got her own stall in the park-and-ridelot after years on the waiting list.

"I was actually shocked when my name came up because I would have applied in second year of university, which was about four or five years ago. "

Still, she's not entirely happy with the idea of payingtwice to get to work.

"Park and rides and transit should be accessible," she said. "When you're paying $90 for an ETSpass already,an additional $50 a month is a lot of money."

ETS spokesman Dave McReynolds said while there are many people who want free stalls, there are more who want the ability to ensure they have a parking spot each morning.

"There's not one solution that'sgoing to meet everyone's needs," he said.

His advice? "Have a Plan B and give yourself a little extra time for your commute."