Parking Woes Plague NJ Commutes

Just try and commute by mass transit in New Jersey. If you have to drive to nearby train stations or bus stops to catch a ride into New York City or Hoboken, you'll find that you have to run a gauntlet of issues.

Is there sufficient parking at the station? At many, the answer is no. NJ Transit admits as much. There are only a few stations in the entire system that have a surplus of spots, and those stations are built in places that no one wants to commute from, including Route 17/Mahwah. Elsewhere, station parking lots are often full before 8AM, which means your choice is to either attempt to get to the stations even earlier, or drive to another station. For many, the latter is not an option.

The Northeast Corridor is pretty much at full capacity for its parking, leaving no options except to drive on the NJ Turnpike to get to Manhattan.

Attempting to park on-street near those train stations isn't an option either, and many towns are moving to further restrict parking to only those who have permits.

This means that those people who are actively trying to take their cars off the road are being forced to continue driving because towns and municipalities, and especially NJ Transit, are thwarting use of the system.

The fact that these towns and municipalities are imposing these restrictions shows just how parochial parking is and how it trumps the supposed claims by towns and politicians that they want people to use mass transit and be environmentally responsible.

The restrictions do the opposite. They force people into cars, rather than take them off the streets. Municipalities would be wise to actually encourage people to come to their towns - increased traffic in town centers actually would encourage people to shop and eat there, beyond simply parking for the commute.

As someone who lived in Midland Park and had to drive in to Ridgewood to catch a train, I know what it's like to park and ride. The town has several permit lots close to the train, plus open day lots further away. While I would have liked to park closer to the station, I was quite thankful that the town made day parking available. It also gave me an opportunity to window shop and take in the local sights and sounds, to say nothing of the flavors of Ridgewood with the abundance of restaurants. Other towns should follow that example, rather than further restricting parking.

The restrictions actually hit these towns hard, and while the politicians are claiming that they're looking out for their residents' interests and making sure that they have a place to park, they're doing those same residents a disservice by reducing the amount of traffic to businesses and restaurants around town.