MTA Postpones Vote On Metro-North Parking Rate Hikes

SOUTHEAST, NY — The Metropolitan Transit Authority will not decide Thursday whether to raise parking rates at 25 Metro-North train stations in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties. MTA officials tabled the vote after news of the proposal went public and reactions grew heated.

The plan was to raise fees by an average 12 cents a day for permit holders (about two-thirds of Metro-North's riders) at the parking lots owned by the MTA, hike rates for metered parking and begin charging for parking on Saturdays. SEE: Parking May Be Pricier At Many Metro-North Stations In 2020.

State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Democrat from Scarsdale, said she was glad to see the vote postponed. For one thing, she wanted to see details on the MTA staff's assertion that the proposed rates would generally be competitive with fees charged for parking spaces owned by local municipalities. She also wanted to know what the money — the MTA estimated it would gain $925,000 in revenue — would be used for. And she wondered why the topic hadn't come up the week before, when she met with Metro-North staff.

"Clearly we need more data and transparency," she tweeted.

The parking increase would effect only the 37 percent of all Metro-North parking in New York State owned by the MTA and operated by LAZ. (In New York State there are roughly 40,000 parking spaces at stations.)

The fee hikes would bring the MTA $965,000 annually. The MTA has been running at a deficit, estimated at $500 million for 2019 and expected to rise, even with fare and toll hikes this year and 2021.

It would be the first time Metro-North increased parking fees since 2013.

The stations west of the Hudson River would not be affected by the parking rate hikes. Metro-North cut parking rates there in 2014 to encourage ridership. SEE: Metro North Sweetens Rockland Commute into NYC. In fact, in February the MTA Board voted to waive fare increases for Metro-North's West of Hudson rail riders, based on the ongoing problems experienced by commuters on the Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines.

However, Rockland and Orange County riders would have been affected by the imposition of fees for Saturday parking.

"Once again Metro-North and the MTA are abusing West-of-Hudson riders who receive the lowest levels of service in the entire region," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. "It's bad enough we are limited to just 12 trains each way on the Pascack Valley line on Saturdays, and we have to hope that they even run. Rockland residents already face a $40+ million yearly value gap. Nickel and diming us with Saturday parking fees just adds insult to injury."

The proposed parking permit rate hikes were between $36 and $58 a year. The meter rates would go up to 75 cents from 50 cents.

Amid mounting pressure, the Metro-North committee dropped the item from the agenda, announcing at the start of the meeting Tuesday that they wanted time to gather more data, The Journal News reported.