Will Park for Transit: How King County Metro Is Managing High Demand for Park-and-Ride Access

Like many transit agencies across the United States, King County Metro (Metro) is experiencing strong ridership growth as a result of increasing population, additional traffic congestion, and higher prices for parking around the region. With additional growth in ridership, there is increased demand for park-and-ride access to the transit system. However, the park-and- ride supply has barely increased over the past five years, while demand has increased by more than 10 percent. This paper explores options for Metro to manage demand, inexpensively increase supply, and boost ridership at the more than 120 park-and-ride facilities across the county. A major focus of this study is a priced permit program that could reduce rider frustration, increase the performance and ridership of park-and-ride facilities, and maintain consistent operations with other regional transit agencies. This paper presents the analysis results of a low and high-price permit program that has a strong incentive for carpooling to park-and-ride facilities. Overall, the authors found that a permit program in King County would generally increase transit ridership, even under the high-price scenario, as some people shift access modes, allowing new riders to park. Many riders would benefit by obtaining a permit that would guarantee a parking space, allowing them to arrive at the time of their choice. However, with a limited number of permits available, some transit riders who cannot obtain a permit may become frustrated as there is little available park-and-ride capacity for routes serving key employment destinations in the county.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE50 Standing Committee on Transportation Demand Management.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Breiland, Chris
  • Rowe, Daniel
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Park and ride; Parking; Public transit; Ridership
• Identifier Terms: King County Metro Transit
• Geographic Terms: King County (Washington)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01630367
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-05632
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 27 2017 9:35AM