In Defense of Park and Rides
Living in Sherwood Park, Park and Ride has been my main mode of transportation to and from Edmonton for four years and counting. I recently watched an excellent video from More Than Transit (MTT) dissecting Park and Rides and, believe it or not, I got defensive. Despite my qualms with my daily commute (namely, unpredictable delays and occasional overcrowding), Park and Ride has made my life easier: I avoid driving anxiety, save money on gas, nap during long rides, and am one less car on the road (for most of my trip). Setting aside my own experiences though, MTT makes some very valid points against Park and Rides: they are expensive, act as a crutch to car dependency, limit ridership based on available parking spots, and occupy land that could be used for other, more economically-stimulating developments which (such as apartments or mixed-use buildings) which could increase and sustain transit ridership, especially at non-peak times.
MTT emphasizes that Park and Rides primarily cater to downtown workers on nine-to-five schedules, resulting in underutilized or lack of service for much of the day. By contrast, in my experience, post-secondary students make up the bulk of Park-and-Riders. Students’ schedules are far more varied than nine-to-fivers’, meaning transit ridership is spread out for more of the day. Moreover, successful Park and Ride routes can subsidize other bus lines: Strathcona County Transit’s 411 and 414 commuter routes to Macewan and U of A are their busiest lines, with sometimes two full double-decker buses serving a single departure. The local routes within Sherwood Park are far less used, presumably bringing in significantly less revenue than the Edmonton-bound routes. The extra revenue generated by these commuter routes may allow local buses to maintain more frequent service, resulting in a better experience for local riders.
At the end of their video, MTT acknowledged the role of Park and Rides for rural and suburban communities. Furthermore, a regional benefit of Park and Rides is the offsetting of road maintenance costs for a central municipality. Many people working in Edmonton live in Sherwood Park or other suburbs, meaning that their property tax does not contribute to maintaining Edmonton’s roads and infrastructure. This puts big cities in a difficult position, as they must pay to maintain services which are strained by people they do not receive tax dollars from. When a peripheral municipality takes on the cost of a Park and Ride, resulting in fewer cars driving on city roads, the burden of road maintenance may be lessened for a city like Edmonton. Suburbs covering the cost of their commuters is more equitable.
All in all, Park and Rides are by no means perfect, but they can effectively serve communities if implemented well. They can allow for high-volume public transportation within existing road infrastructure of car-dependent places. Express routes from Park and Rides can entice people to shift their mode of transportation, taking cars off the road for some of their journey. Perhaps cities would benefit from constructing fewer, smaller Park and Rides instead of one or two massive stations; MTT suggests converting road- and transit-adjacent parking spots in commercial areas into designated park-and-ride spaces. By accommodating car-users while increasing public transit ridership, Park and Rides may offer a best-of-both-worlds experience for cities and commuters.
-Written by Elise Beaton (Photo credits from Aman Builders)