System-wide, Metro has 24,121 parking spaces available for commuters who want to drive to the stations and then ride the rest of the way. A new map created by Mehmet Berker for StreetsBlog LA shows the breakdown of where you can find those spots—and just how many of those spots are free for drivers to use.
Many stations offer no parking, particularly as the lines enter into the city center. If you’re riding Metro to Downtown, the closest lot will be the 94 spots offered at Lincoln/Cypress. The stations with the most parking spots are El Monte (1,915), Norwalk (1,792) and Sepulveda (1,205). All the spaces in those massive parking structures are free.
In fact, free spots account for 92.3 percent of the parking options that Berker cataloged. Of course, as StreetBlog LA notes, while offering parking that drivers don’t pay for on a daily basis might be a good incentive to get people who would otherwise drive all the way to their destination to try a car-and-Metro combo, those spots aren’t exactly free. They’re paid for out of taxes and transit fares as part of Metro’s overall budget. And, since they mostly install parking at stations located in more suburban and affluent areas versus the stations closer to the city’s core, that is raising some concerns that Metro might be better off allocating those funds to expanding service access.
To address that issue, Metro is making some changes to the system. Starting with nine stations of the Expo Line's Phase Two, they are piloting a program of driver-paid lots. They are now charging $2 a day and have instituted a verification check to confirm that a TAP card linked to the vehicle is actually being used to cut down on those people who use Metro parking but don’t actually take Metro.
Going forward, the next roll out will be occupancy-based pricing. The stations where 90 percent or more of the spaces are used daily will switch to paid parking plus the TAP verification. At stations with 70 to 89 percent occupancy stations, you’ll have to pay to park, but they’ll let you park there even if you’re not riding Metro. The stations where most of the spots are vacant most days will continue with the free, open system for now—and, if they’re really not being used for commuters, may eventually be demolished or overhauled to make way for more useful things.
Image: Mehmet Berker for StreetsBlog LA
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