Parking could get a lot tighter at the Vienna Metrorail station beginning next month. For the past five years, Metro has been leasing space on private property for a 680-space parking lot. This lot was initially used to help passengers displaced by the construction of a park-and-ride garage but was continued because of high demand after the terrorist attacks. That lease expires Nov. 19, and the land will be used for a private development. Fairfax County is proposing the construction of a 2,100-space garage on an existing lot near the station. If that garage is approved, the numberof available spaces will be temporarily reduced even more beginning next summer until the garage is completed in early 2009. If that happens, it might be a good idea to start finding alternative parking and connecting bus routes. A good starting point might be the county Web site at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/parkride.htm.
Speaking of parking lots and responding to earlier columns about the potential advantages of walking up stairs instead of using escalators, Patricia writes: “I submit that my parking fee is $900 a year, taking off the two weeks for vacation, some doctor’s appointments, etc. The parking lot I use is at the beginning/end of the line. It has been expanded twice because it fills up so quickly. I do not pay for reserved parking. That would be an additional $35 a month or more, over and above paying the $3.75 daily just to find a nonreserved parking space on the outdoor lots, five working days a week.
“Now consider the fact [of] how many people are using these spaces and multiply that times the fees I just mentioned, just to park and get in and out of Metro parking lots. That’s a whopping amount of money they are bringing in. Then there’s the rush-hour fees to ride from one stop to another. We are talking megabucks, times all the Metro lots combined. It staggers the mind.
“If Metro claims they cannot afford improving the structures and improvements to protect and maintain the escalators, then I would be prompted to call for a complete management inspection of their finances, budget and operations. That’s what has been on my mind, and the fact that I have not seen this already suggested is just [incredible].
“By the way — I walk six blocks from Metro to my worksite and back each day. And it’s good for me. I do not need to walk additional miles once I reach a Metro station. I walk another three blocks from the platform landing to and from my car in the parking lot! So I don’t need anyone telling me I am opposed to walking! That equals 18 blocks a day. Plus, I change trains at one station to another. Each day. So Metro is not ‘keeping me soft.’ ”
In its defense, Metro continues to build canopies over exposed escalators at many stations at a cost of millions of dollars. In addition, the local jurisdictions generally pay a substantial amount toward the construction of the parking garages.
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