As commuter rail habits continue to change, affected in part by the increasing number of people able to work from home, Naperville may eliminate quarterly parking permits at Metra station lots in favor of daily fees.
Councilman Paul Hinterlong said he’d like to see every lot converted to daily fees.
“I think the time has come to take another look at our permitting process. I know that there’s a lot of frustration with it, a lot of unfairness with it,” Hinterlong said.
The Naperville City Council got the process rolling this week by agreeing the city will no longer issue new quarterly permits for Fifth Avenue train station lots and will close the waiting list for new permits as city staff investigates technology that would make it easier for rail commuters to park at the Fifth Avenue or Route 59 stations.
Demand is high for quarterly permits because they give the holder the security of knowing they will have a parking spot in a specific lot, said Jennifer Louden, deputy director of Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department.
The permits have caused heartache for applicants who wait as long as seven years on a list to buy one at the preferred Fifth Avenue station and headaches for the city because existing permit holders don’t park in the lots on a daily basis, leaving prime spots going unused.
The situation also generated an underground market of people subletting their spaces to others, prompting the city to crack down by requiring permit holders to provide vehicle registration information at renewal time.
Louden said the alternative is more daily fee-only parking, which is available on a first-come, first-served basis. While these spaces offer the most flexibility, commuters are not guaranteed a spot will be available.
The ideal solution, Louden said, is a parking program that provides both the flexibility to park a vehicle when needed and the certainty that a space will be available.
In addition no longer issuing new quarterly permits, the city will convert the Parkview permit lot at the Fifth Avenue station to daily fee parking, adding 122 daily fee spaces. Parkview permit holders would be moved to the Burlington lot.
At the same time, the city will hire a consultant to help determine the best route for maximizing use of commuter parking lots.
Hinterlong cited data from the city’s commuter parking survey that shows the COVID-19 pandemic has changed parking needs.
Of the 2,172 rail commuters who responded to the survey last fall, 76% said they used Metra rail system four or more days per week before the pandemic but only 37% planned to resume commuting four or more days per week when the pandemic ends.
The majority of respondents, 45%, indicated they’d likely commute one to three days per week.
Although Metra ridership has been steadily increasing in 2021, Louden said it’s impossible to predict when, if ever, ridership will reach pre-pandemic levels of 4,100 and 5,800 daily riders at the Fifth Avenue and Route 59 stations, respectively.
Councilman Benny White said he’d prefer a gradual approach because he’s talked to people who have been waiting for years to obtain a quarterly permit.
If the city tells them their permit spot is going away after they’ve been waiting for that long, “they’re going to go crazy,” he said
Converting more spaces to daily fees now, can get commuters acclimated as ridership picks up in the coming months, Councilwoman Theresa Sullivan said said. “If we wait until demand comes back, then we’re actually behind,” she said.
A way to check parking availability online does not currently exist but is something the city would like to investigate, Louden said.
“Providing more information to the commuters will allow them to make those decisions,” she said.
While there are apps available to reserve a parking spot, there is no out-of-the-box solution that would work for all Naperville lots at the moment, Louden said.
City staff members are “parking generalists, not parking specialists,” she said. A consultant could evaluate commuter parking programs and make recommendations on improvements to the parking fee structure and technology.
The plan approved by the council also calls for pursuing actions to balance the demand for parking and mitigate traffic congestion around the Metra stations.
While Pace commuter feeder bus routes were eliminated during the pandemic, the city will focus on how to reintroduce commuter bus service as commuter activity increases, Louden said.
The city also will maintain appropriate loading and unloading zones for transit vehicles and designate ride-share spaces, she said.
Quarterly permits in Naperville cost $120 for residents and nonresidents in the Parkview and Burlington lots, $110 for residents and $135 for nonresidents in the Kroehler lot, and $120 for residents and $145 for nonresidents in the Route 59 lot.
Daily fees are $2 per day at both Metra stations except for spaces at the DuPage Children’s Museum and 190 E. 5th Ave., which cost $5 per day.