Light-Rail Issue: Parking

By Dianne Whitacre, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Oct. 5–When light-rail trains start running in Charlotte about 18 months from now, passengers will face a big question: Where do they leave their cars?

They have two main choices: at home or in a park-and-ride lot.

Transit agencies must focus on both types of passengers, said Shelley Poticha, head of Reconnecting America, a California-based nonprofit that advises how to weave together communities and transit systems.

She will speak Oct. 14 at Charlotte’s third annual Transit and Land-Use Summit. The daylong symposium is aimed at developers, planners and elected officials. The Charlotte Chamber is one of the summit’s four sponsors.

Don’t build parking lots at every station, Poticha said in an interview. Instead, use zoning, new roads, sidewalks and other incentives to encourage developers to build housing, shops and offices within walking distance to some stations.

Charlotte, Denver and Salt Lake City are learning from the experience of older light-rail lines that built only park-and-ride lots. Dense development near stations will lead to more riders, she said.

Parking lots are important, but land next to stations is too valuable for cars. And passengers are put off if they have to walk across a sprawling parking lot to catch a train. Solve the problem by putting parking a block or two away, reserving close-in space for shops or housing, Poticha said.

Businesses appealing to passengers likely will locate near the station, along sidewalks where nearby residents or park-and-riders would walk.

Her message: reserve prime land for development, not cars.

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