TRANSIT: BART parking scarce as ridership soars

The telltale sign that BART ridership would spike Tuesday came well before anyone boarded a train. It was the early-morning scramble for parking in the station lots that signaled the higher demand.

Parking lots filled up faster than usual Tuesday, as more people took BART to work to avoid the fire-damaged sections of the MacArthur Maze.

BART reported that 158,000 people boarded the trains Tuesday morning -- 13,000 more than usual. Yet while BART officials added trains and runs during the rush-hour commutes, nothing has been done to increase the number of parking spaces.

Regional transit officials are considering a number of options, including satellite lots and shuttles to the stations. BART officials also have recommended that people use the least crowded lots, including North Concord/Martinez, Richmond, Coliseum/Oakland Airport, Hayward, South Hayward, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae.

Taking a bus, biking or walking to the stations are other options, said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

In the short term, officials have adopted a wait-and-see approach to determine whether demand stays high, said John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional agency helping craft the response.

Regional leaders continue to urge people to leave their cars and take public transit. To lure new riders -- and keep the ones they already have -- BART officials don't want to give people an excuse to jump back behind the wheel.

"We certainly don't want to add to people's frustration," said BART Board President Lynette Sweet. "During this crisis we are trying to come up with alternatives" to deal with the parking crunch.

Riders can pay for reserved parking in station lots, which guarantees them a space until 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. The number of spaces set aside for that program is limited.

BART has a total of 45,890 on-site parking spaces. The system normally provides about 340,000 rides a day.

With two key freeway arteries in the East Bay knocked out of commission, many BART regulars who drive to the stations built extra time into their commutes to make sure they could snag a parking space, as many of the more popular lots filled a half hour to an hour earlier than usual.

Several stations had parking shortages even before the current freeway collapse, such as Dublin/Pleasanton, West Oakland, Rockridge and Lake Merritt. Spaces at those stations are in even greater demand now.

By 8 a.m., all the spaces were taken at the Lafayette Station, which draws people from central Contra Costa County bedroom communities. But that didn't stop people from circling, hoping a space would materialize.

Oakland resident Gina Riser, 49, drove to Lafayette on Tuesday morning to park at the BART station because she had a quilting class nearby later that night.

"Normally, I park in Fruitvale, so I came all the way out here to make sure I had parking, but the parking lots are already full so I had to pay 5ドル" at a nearby lot, Riser said. "I'm going to be doing the same thing tomorrow, because I'm going to go to a basketball game."

Riser, standing in front of the BART turnstile, said she got up at 5:30 a.m. to make the drive. "Now, I have to go all the way back to San Francisco. I'm sure it's adding 45 minutes to my commute time," she said.

The parking lot at the Pittsburg/Bay Point Station was nearly full at 6 a.m., as commuters arrived before dawn to park their cars.

"I had to come early because it seems like the parking lot is filling up sooner," said Shaughn Knoel of Antioch, who was on his way to his job in Oakland.

Sandra Lo showed up, as per her routine, at the Orinda Station around 8 a.m. Tuesday and managed to squeeze her car into a small space with only inches to spare.

"It was nearly impossible to find parking today, and I have a reserved parking pass," said Lo, 31, a public relations manager who works in San Francisco. She noticed a lot of cars parked in the reserved lot without the required pass.

"BART parking enforcement better step it up this week and ticket every violator," she said.

Allison, the BART spokesman, said parking rules will be enforced.

Maura Wolf, a 38-year-old leadership consultant, was one of the commuters who couldn't find a spot at the Orinda Station. She arrived just before 9 a.m. to catch a train to San Francisco.

She drove up and down the rows of parking, but every space was filled. She ended up at a street space a couple blocks away, undeterred by the prospect that she probably wouldn't be back in time to beat the four-hour time limit. "I'll take my chances," she said.

Others didn't want to take any chances.

At the Walnut Creek Station, Phil Larson, 24, a software engineer who commutes to downtown San Francisco on BART, got a friend to drop him off.

"I was concerned there wouldn't be any parking," he said.

-- For information on BART parking -- including reserved lots and carpool passes -- go to www.bart.gov/guide/parking.

-- Bay Area transit and traffic information: www.511.org, or call 511.

-- BART stations where available parking usually has been most plentiful: North Concord/Martinez, Richmond, Coliseum/Oakland Airport, Hayward, South Hayward, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae.

-- Contra Costa County residents who drive to work alone may be eligible for a free BART pass, worth 100,ドル and free bus passes. More information is available online at www.511contracosta.org/transit.html or by calling (925) 407-0355.