EDITORIAL: Time to ramp up transit availability in Rochester

Jul. 9—Parker Brothers began marketing its "Monopoly" game on Nov. 5, 1935, and as far as we can tell, people started inventing their own rules about five minutes after it first hit store shelves.

For example, players commonly pay taxes and jail fines not to the bank, but into a pot of cash that eventually is claimed by a player who lands on "Free Parking." That's not in the "Monopoly" rule book. The free parking space is supposed to be just that — a cost-free respite from an expensive world. No rent. No tickets, No hassles. Apparently, even 87 years ago, finding a free parking space was a prize in and of itself.

Some things never change.

Late last month, during a discussion of a parking problems at the Rochester Recreation Center and 125 Live, city officials revealed that they are in the preliminary stages of a process that could end with construction of a city-owned parking ramp somewhere near the intersection of North Broadway and Elton Hills Drive.

Details are few. The structure wouldn't be huge — likely two or three levels and a couple hundred parking spaces, at a cost of $6-7 million, with the federal government picking up most, if not all, of the tab. This structure would likely be packed on the 20-some days of the year when the Rec Center hosts a playoff hockey game, a figure skating competition or some other big sporting event.

Currently, the Rec Center and 125 Live do a rather delicate scheduling dance to avoid chaos in the parking lots the two facilities share, but it's a less-than-ideal solution that doesn't always work. Rochester seniors who want to swim or play cards shouldn't face parking hassles, nor should out-of-towners who drive to the Rec Center to see a hockey game on a bitter February evening.

Still, a new ramp's most important value would be as a potential Park-and-Ride site for commuters into downtown — but that possibility also raises some important questions about the future of public transportation in Rochester.

Each business day, thousands of drivers park in "satellite" lots scattered across Rochester, including RCTC, IBM Park, Second Street Southwest, Target South, Third Avenue Southeast, the fairgrounds and Chateau Center. Some of these commuters then ride city buses downtown, while others hop onto Mayo Clinic-operated shuttles for the final leg of their commute.

A lot of these commuters doubtless would prefer to park downtown near their place of employment, but that's not a viable option. All-day street parking downtown is extremely limited, and parking in a city-operated ramp can cost up to $14 per day. (Yes, that's cheap by big-city standards, but thankfully, Rochester isn't New York or San Francisco.) People use Park-and-Ride because they've crunched the numbers and determined that it makes economic sense to do so.

But as Rochester ponders the possibility of a new, city-owned parking ramp at the Rec Center, it also continues to fine-tune plans for Link Rapid Transit, a $143 million project that will carry passengers to and from downtown on Second Street Southwest and Third Avenue Southeast. That plan could include city-owned parking ramps at both the east and west hubs.

This proposed project — also known as the circulator — has undergone multiple revisions during the past few years, but we now wonder whether the city should incorporate any new parking ramp on North Broadway into the circulator plans. At the very least it's worth some consideration, even if it means adding an extra level or two to the proposed parking structure.

A still bigger question is whether it's time for Rochester to consider eliminating all fares for existing and future public transit routes, and to plan for satellite parking ramps that will be free at all times.

The reality is that there are two types of public-transit users — those who have an employer who pays their fares, and those who do not. You don't need an economics degree to figure out that the lowest earners in downtown Rochester are also the people who are most likely to be paying their own bus fares.

While a $2 fare might seem nominal, we'd argue that at a time when inflation is taking an especially heavy toll on low-wage earners, that $2 is likely far more important to the bus rider than it is to Rochester's bottom line.

Cities like Alexandria, Va., Missoula, Mont., and even Kansas City are experimenting with free public transit, which has been the norm in many European cities for decades. While the results of these experiments in the U.S. have been somewhat mixed, one clear trend is holding true; namely, that people are far more likely to use public transit when it is both free and convenient.

Rochester is on the cusp of making public transit truly convenient for commuters, as well as for people who don't have a car yet need to get to and from downtown to shop, dine or receive medical care. We expect that free parking in city-owned satellite ramps will be part of that new-and-improved system, and we hope Rochester seriously considers making bus rides free, too.

The goal, after all, is to get people downtown without their cars. If they arrive downtown with extra cash in their pockets because they didn't pay to park or ride a bus, so much the better.