What's a park-and-ride?
Michael Kotler
where commuters can park their cars and take the train/bus/subway into the
city. The theory is that parking in the city is expensive and/or difficult
to find, so why not park out in the sticks where land is cheaper. Not to
mention one can avoid fighting all the traffic going in and out of town.
Sometimes, a temporary bus-based Park-and-Ride may be established for a
special event like a fair, especially when the expected traffic would
otherwise overwhelm the fairground parking lot and the 2-lane roads to get
there. And here in Washington DC, bus-based park and rides are used for
all the Redskins games, since the new Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now FedEx
Field) was unwisely built away from the Metrorail (even the proposed Blue
Line extension will not come close enough).
Less frequently, a Park-and-Ride may be designated as a carpool pickup
point. This tends to be prevalent when carpoolers get special perks, e.g.
HOV lanes, close-in parking spaces. I doubt that many people still carpool
just to save on the price of gas as in the 1970s, though with the price of
fuel once again skyrocketing in the US, who knows?
(One such Park-and-Ride is found at the unused end of the I95/I-495
interchange in Maryland; the gore sign actually reads "Carpool Parking". I
think that was recently turned into a weigh station, though.)
Another popular term for rail-based transit is the "Kiss-and-Ride". This
usually consists of a driveway near the station where one can conveniently
drive up and drop someone off to ride the train. I guess the theory is
that husbands and wives let each other off to go to work in the morning,
hence the name "Kiss (goodbye) and Ride". The only bus-based Kiss-and-
Rides I know of are on the busways in Pittsburgh and the express bus
"stations" on the Dulles Toll Road in Northern VA (which were ostensibly
built for a future Metrorail extension).
I've often wondered if at suburban stations of the Montreal or Paris Metro
they have a "French Kiss and Ride."
ze...@magicnet.net
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In article <8F4E735AEm...@207.172.3.46>, mek...@aol.com (Michael
John Lansford
>A Park-and-Ride is a parking lot located in a suburban or outlying area,
>where commuters can park their cars and take the train/bus/subway into the
>city. The theory is that parking in the city is expensive and/or difficult
>to find, so why not park out in the sticks where land is cheaper. Not to
>mention one can avoid fighting all the traffic going in and out of town.
>
>Sometimes, a temporary bus-based Park-and-Ride may be established for a
>special event like a fair, especially when the expected traffic would
>otherwise overwhelm the fairground parking lot and the 2-lane roads to get
>there. And here in Washington DC, bus-based park and rides are used for
>all the Redskins games, since the new Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now FedEx
>Field) was unwisely built away from the Metrorail (even the proposed Blue
>Line extension will not come close enough).
>
>Less frequently, a Park-and-Ride may be designated as a carpool pickup
>point. This tends to be prevalent when carpoolers get special perks, e.g.
>HOV lanes, close-in parking spaces. I doubt that many people still carpool
>just to save on the price of gas as in the 1970s, though with the price of
>fuel once again skyrocketing in the US, who knows?
There is a park-and-ride lot at Mars Hill on US 19/23 north of
Asheville. It is heavily used and we've been asked by FHWA to see if
there are any other sites along I-26 that could be set aside for such
lots. There are no HOV lanes nor special perks for those who use the
lots, which are for carpoolers to pick up passengers for the trip into
Asheville.
>Another popular term for rail-based transit is the "Kiss-and-Ride". This
>usually consists of a driveway near the station where one can conveniently
>drive up and drop someone off to ride the train. I guess the theory is
>that husbands and wives let each other off to go to work in the morning,
>hence the name "Kiss (goodbye) and Ride".
This is correct. Transit stops typically have both types of
facilities; park-and-ride and dropoff ("kiss and ride") areas.
John Lansford, PE
The unofficial I-26 Construction Webpage:
http://users.vnet.net/lansford/a10/