Published Tuesday, December 26, 2000 in the Contra Costa Times

Parking worsens as BART ridership grows

From Pleasanton to Pittsburg, riders are willing to pay fines for midday
spots

By Bonita Brewer
Times Staff Writer

BART parking is so scarce that some harried morning commuters are
willing to be slapped with $25 fines just to be able to park illegally
in lots reserved for carpoolers and midday parkers.

Surveys and statistics indicate BART riders from Pleasanton to
Pittsburg often use these tempting but off-limits spaces because the
convenience is worth the price.

Yuri Manirko of Pleasanton was so rushed on a recent Friday morning
trying to make it to a San Francisco meeting that he said, "Fine!"
when BART police warned they'd have to ticket him for parking in the
midday lot, where cars aren't allowed until 10 a.m.

"I don't have a choice (but to be ticketed); I have to get to the
train," an exasperated Manirko told officers as he raced into the
restricted lot at the Dublin-Pleasanton station at 9:54 a.m.

"I think it's just ridiculous," he said of the strict BART policy as
he hurried out of his car. "For being just six minutes early, this is
unbelievable. I have a meeting at 11 -- not at 11:05!"

There were already 15 cars illegally parked in the 153-stall midday
lot when Manirko arrived, and more were parked without permits in a
lot restricted to carpoolers. BART officers were busy writing tickets.

Meanwhile, more than 100 cars were lined up to caravan into the midday
spots at the stroke of 10 a.m., some drivers waiting more than a half
hour.

"I feel bad for patrons; we don't have enough parking, and I know it's
very frustrating," said Mary Chaves, a BART community service
assistant, noting the problem is even more severe on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Chaves said she issued 65 citations on a recent Wednesday alone, about
40 of those to vehicles parked before 10 a.m. in the station's midday
lot or in the carpool lots without a carpool permit.

"We try to do everything we can not to give citations, but a lot of
patrons will insist on one," she said. "They work for companies that
pay the fine. There's one vehicle I cite every day and the tickets are
paid on a daily basis. I guess the guy thinks it's worth it to pay the
citation and take the train than to drive. When there are (Oakland)
A's day games during the week, these restricted lots are full by 10
a.m. That's guaranteed."

Recent BART surveys showed illegal parking in midday stalls occurs at
nearly all BART parking lots, though the problems seem most pronounced
at the Dublin-Pleasanton and Pittsburg stations.

An April survey turned up 27 Pittsburg cars parked at 9 a.m. in a
54-space area off limits for parking until 10 a.m. At the Concord
station, all 16 of the midday spots were full at the morning
check. The same survey found 17 cars in the Dublin-Pleasanton's 153
midday stalls.

Chaves said the biggest problems tend to be at BART's end-of-the-line
stations, which draw additional people from outlying communities not
served by BART. She said that in desperation, people not only park in
midday and carpool lots, but also in red zones and on sidewalks.

At the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station, the problem has flowed off
BART property altogether and into parking lots of nearby Target,
Walgreens and Staples stores as well as adjacent residential streets.

Despite constant ticketing by El Cerrito police, BART riders aren't
fazed, said Sgt. Gary Priebe. "It's definitely a growing problem," he
said. "We hear about this every day."

The parking shortage is growing systemwide as BART's ridership
increases. "Since last year, virtually all our parking facilities have
had problems," said BART spokesman Ron Rodriguez. "The Pittsburg lot
has been full since the first day.

"The big problem is that ridership has leapfrogged 15 percent in the
last year (to 345,000 trips a day)," Rodriguez said.

With full lots, a growing number of riders are parking illegally on
BART property.

Consider this:

From December 1999 through November, 59,985 parking citations were
issued at the 29 BART stations that have parking -- up from 45,323
citations during the previous 12-month period, according to BART
statistics.

Of the total, 19,077 citations were issued for illegal parking before
10 a.m. on weekdays in a midday lot, up from 13,002 the year
before. Similar numbers of tickets were written for riders failing to
validate their parking at stations that require it.

10,316 tickets were issued on cars parked illegally in carpool lots
before 10 a.m. The previous year recorded 6,448 such citations.

Also on the rise: the number of complaints about parking woes.

One rider griped that the Dublin-Pleasanton station's 264 spaces
reserved for carpoolers before 10 a.m. are practically empty in the
commute hours, but are nevertheless off limits to noncarpoolers
scrambling in vain to find a legal spot. The April BART survey showed
only 56 cars parked in the carpool lot at 9 a.m.

A frustrated Debra Squadrito said the near-empty carpool lot is
tantamount to "waving drugs in the face of an addict and then telling
them, 'Here it is, right in front of your face, but you can't have
it.'

"I'm there with hundreds of other people driving around and around
trying to find a legal space," said Squadrito, who lives in the San
Antone Valley south of Livermore and takes BART to school in San
Francisco. "If you're not there by 7:30, the choice is risking getting
a ticket or being late getting where you need to go waiting for 10
a.m. to roll around.

"The idea is to promote carpooling, but it's not very effective,"
Squadrito said, complaining that BART brochures provide little if any
information about the carpool program and that better promotion could
free the unrestricted spaces for noncarpoolers.

Though there are clearly more spaces at the Pleasanton station than
are being used by carpoolers, Rodriguez said the numbers can't be
changed because they were mandated by the federal government as part
of a land deal for the station.

"We have to increase our marketing of carpooling to BART," Rodriguez
agreed. "It's been done and continues to be, but we need to make a
more concentrated effort. It gets more passengers per parking space,
and we're always short of parking spaces."


Bonita Brewer covers Tri-Valley growth and transportation.
Reach her at 925-847-2120 or bbrewer@....
Alma Sharpe contributed to this report.