More on Dierberg's
I was told that Dierbergs was fearful of people parking on their lot and taking MetroLink.
posted by CMT at 4:21 PM
Friday, September 15, 2006
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Citizens for Modern Transit or CMT, leads advocacy efforts to expand light rail as the critical component of an integrated, affordable and convenient public transportation system that will enable economic growth to improve quality of life in the St. Louis region.
10 Comments:
Thanks again!
I guess that is a valid concern to have. I've seen the other side of the complex and it is packed with Park and Ride cars. It would also explain why they emphasise those posters.
Once the massive new Park and Ride structure is built; would this hinderence be removed so that people can actually go grocery shopping?
I see a lot of Wash U students coming on the train with Target bags. The demand is there!
Yes, and in other places parking is monitered. It also demonstrates the problems with "free parking." It really isn't free. It costs Dierbergs and the other tenants something to maintain the lot. the cost is built into the price of the groceries which everyone pays including the MetroLink riders. If it cost to park, the groceries would be cheaper and there would not be a problem with people leaving their cars and taking MetroLink
Parking is really a land use issue. A lot of space that could be used for active space is now used as passive space.
The issues you bring up about building are accurate about the hidden costs. Costs are everywhere; the inability to walk anywhere, an absolute dependence on the automobile and then the use of even more spread out commercial developement, since vertical parking is expensive to build; and everyone NEEDS parking.
As for the Park and Ride structure on Brentwood I-64; I heard that it is on a long term lease with Metro. Is this true?
Also; who does Metro attrack with the Park and Ride facilities exactly? Has there been studies, internal or otherwise, done about that segment of the usership?
Metro has entered into a condo arrangment with the developers at Eager Rd. Metro will own 800 spaces or so, plus MetroLink riders will have access to the others nights and weekends -- i.e. football and baseball.
I haven't seen recent Metro Market research and that I have seen I don't recall any specific demographics on those who use the park and ride. I will be on the lookout. I suspect they will be doing some surveying once the ridership on the Cross County has a chance to settle in.
Hey Tom?
About the TOD/Sunnen site - where can I get some info on that?
Is there already a RFP out?
Sunnen, Maplewood and CMT did a concept about five years ago. We have a booklet about the site. Maplewood hasn't done anything with it. They pursued the big boxes instead.
Where can I get a copy of that booklet?
Are municipal officials still interested?
Or have they essentially abandoned the idea after the TIF project?
I will mail you one. If you want to contact me directly, it is tshrout at cmt-stl.org
Demand-based tolls on 40, 270, and other highways in the region sure would reduce congestion there and increase transit ridership.
There is absolutely no way to overstate this: free parking is evil. No free parking! Any time, any place!
We subsidize transportation no matter what mode it takes. So we might as well subsidize the modes that are economically, environmentally, and socially healthy rather than the ones that are destructive. Let cars pay market prices for everything based on demand in the free market. Improve and expand transit service while cutting if not eliminating fares. The money is there; it's all a matter of how you raise and spend it.
How can anyone justify a 10-lane 270 in a region with a stagnant 2.5 million people?? I'm appalled every time I come to St. Louis (which is less and less often).
I know you guys, CMT, have to deal with the reality of whatever climate exists on the ground there. That's why I couldn't stand to live there, and I admire you for it. But *someone* has got to be out there pushing these longer term, big picture issues too.
And on parking lots--I haven't yet seen anyone mention all the environmental costs. Less greenery to absorb carbon dioxide, runoff polluting the water supply, lower density development pushing sprawl that much further outside the city where transit can't serve it...I know those are externalities that no one really sees the costs of now, but they are extremely important.
How about the state imposing a 25% pollution tax on the sale of any car that averages less than 25mpg? Is West County really so rugged that people need Hummers there? I'm not saying take them away, but make them pay for--and see--the environmental costs of what they're doing.
I don't think that concern is entirely invalid, but I remember the time I excitedly realized I could take the Metrolink to Dierbergs and shop there more than once or twice a year. I didn't realize, upon exiting the train at Brentwood, that I'd have to walk the entire length of the station and back.
Also, if I didn't have my pass on me, I don't know how I'd have been able to buy a fare back. There's no ticket machine on that side. Do the security guards there let people coming in from the Dierbergs side go back up to the street level near the Best Buy/Sports Authority building and purchase tickets? I know you're not supposed to hang around the station without a valid pass or ticket.
Perhaps for the time being until something better is worked out, there should be some signage telling passengers exiting on the Dierbergs side that if they don't have a pass or their ticket or pass expires shortly, what they should do to be able to reboard with a paid fare.
Otherwise you need to walk all the way up through the parking lot to Eager and come back around to the Best Buy side. When you have bags of groceries, that's a serious nuisance.
Needless to say, unless changes are made, I think I'm going back to shopping at Dierbergs only once in a great while.
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