In two agenda items last week Tuesday on parking downtown and at the transit center, Mountain View City Council valued efficient use of existing space, multi-modal access, and land use goals for the transit center’s surface parking lots. Council expressed these priorities instead of forging forward with proposals to add parking supply.
Increasing Downtown Parking Efficiency
In the downtown, where data shows parking to be full at peak periods, the City will work to improve efficient use of space with valet parking (which has been successful in Palo Alto) and exploring shared use of underutilized private lots, and experimenting with subsidies for Lyft/Uber ridesharing to get downtown without needing parking, as steps to make more efficient use of current parking spaces. More cautiously, the City Council also gave direction to start exploring the potential for paid parking, as a potential measure to make more efficient use of downtown space, with a goal to work closely with the downtown business community.
Another potentially helpful strategy, extending Mountain View’s transportation demand management policies and transportation management association programs, which started in the North Bayshore area into the downtown, is not yet on the table. The Downtown Business community is not yet ready to consider benefits to help downtown employees reduce driving. Currently, a monthly parking permit in a downtown garage costs $50, which is cheaper than a VTA bus pass, let alone a Caltrain pass. So the city’s current policies are incentivizing downtown workers to drive and park.
Mountain View Transit Center Access
In the transit center, the City Council expects that some additional parking may be needed, but will incorporate that decision into broader questions about how to transform the transit center into a potential extension of the lively downtown.
The city’s data also shows that the Caltrain parking lot fills up, and some Caltrain users find further away but free parking in neighborhood streets. As the city moves toward a residential parking permit program, neighborhood streets will no longer be available for Caltrain commuters.
The staff report also observed that 65% to 70% of Caltrain riders use modes other than driving – in other words, only a minority of Caltrain users get to the station by driving and parking. Furthermore, as Caltrain ridership has grown, parking use has grown more slowly, and other modes have grown more quickly.
Council members wanted to see the City build on the success in minimizing car access to the station, exploring measures including better bike access and bike parking, and better dropoff areas for commuters who use rideshare services (Lyft/Uber) to get to the station instead of driving and parking.
Council members were eager to explore options for land use on the space currently occupied by surface parking lots, a topic which will be discussed at an upcoming study session on November 22. Council Member Siegel envisions a Euro-style mixed use transit center where people hang out before and after using transit, and that is a destination in its own right.
While several council members thought that some more parking might be needed as transit use grows, Council members wanted to consider parking needs in the context of potential land use, rather than as the driving force. Structured parking at the transit center could also be used as satellite parking for downtown – visitors could park there and walk over. Council members and wanted to avoid unintended consequences encouraging more transit users to drive to the station.
Some solution will need to be found for the very successful farmers’ market which is currently held in the parking lots. At least one council member suggested moving the market to Castro Street, and closing Castro to cars while the market is in progress, similar to the California Avenue farmers market in Palo Alto.
The November 22nd meeting will be an important next step for the city to explore options for the transit center parking lots – can the land become an extension of the downtown?
