New Standards for Park-and-Ride Centers

News Articles
11/24/2003

AC Transit’s Board recently went on record establishing service, environmental and financial standards to guide the incorporation of Park-and-Ride facilities into the bus service network.

In committing to create Park-and-Rides, the Board established policies that will govern District operation and maintenance of these facilities—and specified that Park-and-Ride users bear the cost of providing the parking. In these times of scarce financial resources, the Board is determined not to expend bus operating funds on auto parking facilities.

“There are locations and conditions—especially in the outer fringes of AC Transit’s service area—where the population isn’t dense enough to support operating TransBay or express routes on highways or byways,” notes Kathleen Kelly, Deputy General Manager of Service Development. “In such areas, investing in Park-and-Ride facilities to support bus service may make sense.”

The Richmond Parkway Transit Center (RPTC) will be a good initial test case. Owned by Caltrans, the RPTC is served by the highly successful Line LA express bus service to downtown San Francisco. Staff is now authorized to negotiate an agreement to operate the RPTC, which needs expansion, upgraded maintenance, and improved security.

Building for the center’s future, $8 million in funding has been identified in the county’s transportation improvement plan for a permanent 800-space parking garage at the Richmond site.