Park and Ride…Where?

I imagine that the majority of folks don’t watch City Council meetings, probably even fewer folks watch the Planning Board meetings, and an even smaller proportion watches Transportation Commission meetings.   I however, watch them all, well listen to them all.   During the last TC meeting, the commissioners were given, I believe, a first look at the proposed Park and Ride lot for the West End.   This is proposed for an empty lot right at the entrance to the Posey tube.  In fact, I remember when this was proposed by Councilmember Frank Matarrese during the Council Referrals portion one meeting and thinking that was a pretty rotten location for a Park and Ride in the first place.

I don’t have anything against Park and Ride lots, I think they can be useful in the right location, but that plot is just not the right location.   The whole point of a Park and Ride is so that folks can, ostensibly, park their car and ride the bus (or catch a casual carpool) to work and then ride the bus home.   Here’s the problem, on the return trip home it is nearly impossible for the rider to get back to his or her car without walking way out of their way or the buses rerouting around Mariner Square Loop rather than heading directly up Webster as is their normal route.   As the Park and Ride would look to mainly serve commuters to San Francisco the primary buses their patrons would need would be the O, W, and possibly the 51 if they are heading to Bart instead.  Not one of these buses currently stop where the Park and Ride is located and while it may be possible for these three buses to pick up passengers going into the Posey Tube, the return trip home is much more tricky.   I can’t foresee that AC Transit would tack on an additional 5 - 10 minutes to its run time to serve this one 61 space Park and Ride lot.

After all, we already have an example of an unsuccessful Park and Ride lot in Alameda with similar access problems going home, the Bay Farm one located next to the golf course and the Grand View Pavillion.   The best use of this Park and Ride is probably as overflow parking for the Grand View Pavillion on event days and evenings.   The problem with the Bay Farm lot is the same problem that would be facing the proposed Posey Tube lot, okay access going to San Francisco, but then quite a feat to get back to your car on the ride home.  It would necessitate walking across Island Drive to get back to your car, if you are brave and jaywalk you might get there a bit quicker, but if you concerned that your Frogger-like skills may be lacking you have to take a very long detour to either of the two stop lights for a guarded pedestrian signal.

Back to the proposed Park and Ride, the total cost to put all the bells and whistles (including widening Mariner Square Loop from two lanes to four lanes) would cost $12.6 million.   Granted, staff mentioned that they might be able to get some federal grants to help offset the cost, I’m sure that the federal and state governments are not going to pony up the whole cost.

Currently only one bus goes by the location, the 19 and only in one direction.   If we are realy serious about a Park and Ride on the West End, let’s find a more optimal place for one that doesn’t require realigning whole roads or rerouting buses to actually provide service to its patrons or expecting bus riders to walk out of their way to get back to their car in what was supposed to be a “convenience.”   There’s no point to this sort of amenity if it makes taking transit or using alternative modes of transportation much more difficult and complex.  

Better locations include somewhere on the College of Alameda property, even Neptune Park would be more convenient than that plot of land.   Rather than invest in some “easy” solution because we might be able to get some money to pay for it that doesn’t come out of the city coffers, let’s find a solution that would really live up to its intended purpose.   Just because something gets built does not mean that it’s a success, it just means that it got built.

Slight digression, as you may or may not have noticed my Blogroll linking to Alameda based bloggers has grown quite long over the past few months.  And now there is a “new blog on the block” in the form of Alamedans which is a blog aggregator and will morph, hopefully, into a larger resource for the community.  Currently there are about seven blogs Alamedans is aggregating, all are strictly Alameda focused.   Check it out!