Transit Ridership Creates New Problem -- Clogged Parking Lots

Maryland's transit parking lots are overflowing into nearby neighborhoods, as buses, park-and-rides, and even their long-derided light rail, fill up.

1 minute read

June 26, 2008, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


"On Avon Court in Halethorpe, there's an unwritten law that says the parking space in front of your home is your spot. But the commuters who flock to the Halethorpe MARC station don't follow that code. They see the absence of no-parking signs as an invitation to leave their cars on the residential street - especially as the 770-space lot at the station fills up every day.

The daily influx of outsiders has led to ugly scenes between residents and commuters, sometimes involving calls to police.

Variations of the problems in Halethorpe are playing out across Maryland as parking lots that serve commuter bus riders, MARC and light rail passengers fill up with commuters, a growing number as many rebel against $4-a-gallon gasoline by switching to transit.

Park-and-ride lots for commuter buses are filling up as far west as Hagerstown, as far south as Calvert County and as far east as Kent Island. Besides Halethorpe, MARC's lots are overflowing in Perryville, Aberdeen, Point of Rocks and West Baltimore."

Thursday, June 26, 2008 in The Baltimore Sun

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