Sound Transit’s bizarre, unintelligible defense of paid parking

Sound Transit constantly argues you’re better off riding the bus as part of your daily commute. Many people have decided to opt-in to that lifestyle. But Sound Transit can’t handle the choices they’re asking you to make and their latest plan to make up for their own incompetence is bizarrely defended.

The agency asks you to drive to one of their park-and-rides and take the bus. But Sound Transit never builds enough parking stalls. The agency offers the bare minimum and then charges you for relief. Many people can’t find parking, so they get there earlier and earlier, making what should be a stress-free, efficient commute the exact opposite.

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Only, now too many people are showing up early for parking spots, which means they still can’t find parking. Never fear: the money grabbers at Sound Transit are here.

Now the agency wants to charge you for reserve parking. Sure, agency leaders could have invested in more spots, but that would mean they’d have to properly plan their projects. History suggests Sound Transit hates planning for anything. The agency will charge you anywhere between $15 and $90 a month to park.

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But it’s not the outrageous fees that cause me pause; it’s Sound Transit’s poor argument defending their move. According to the Everett Herald, Sound Transit argues offering the paid parking will “…ensure more equitable access to parking.”

Equitable? That’s a cute social justice keyword the agency has to use so leaders can check it off the list of making sure everything they do is seen as progressive. But it makes no sense. The agency is charging people to use a service that was otherwise free. That’s not equitable by any stretch of the imagination. If you can’t afford the fee or would prefer to use what should be a cost saving from taking the bus or something else (which was a perk Sound Transit used to incentivize bus commuting), it’s literally the opposite of equitable.

And let’s not ignore this fact: this idea doesn’t solve the parking problem. Sound Transit isn’t adding parking. It will sell reserved spots to those who can afford it and sign up early. But the agency still has the same amount of spots available to the public, reserved or otherwise. So Sound Transit is just charging people money without offering a solution to a problem of no parking, making this nothing more than a money grab exploiting the agency’s own incompetence in how poorly these projects are planned.

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