![parker road paid parking Eve Edelheit](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20131105234130im_/http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/files/2012/06/parker-road-paid-parking-Eve-Edelheit.jpg)
DART patrons who don't live within the agency's 13 member cities pay $2 a day to park at Parker Road Station on the Red Line. (Eve Edelheit / Staff Photographer)
Dallas Area Rapid Transit is poised to stop charging people who don’t live in its member cities for parking at light-rail stations. The agency’s revenue committee unanimously approved the move Tuesday afternoon.
The agency still plans to give preferential parking at Plano’s Parker Road Station to people who live within its service area. If the full board approves the move next month, changes won’t take effect until April.
DART began charging for parking at some light-rail stations last year in part to dissuade people who live outside the agency’s service area from taking station parking spots from people who live inside the service area.
But the agency also hoped to make money off of what’s called the “fair share” parking program. Instead, the vendor operating the program has yet to break even and DART has yet to earn a penny.
“We thought we could make some money,” said board member Randall Chrisman, who chairs the revenue committee.
Parker Road Station, which is the northern-most stop on the Red and Orange lines, became the poster child of stations used by scores of people who don’t live in a member city. While Plano pays into DART, northern neighbors like Allen and McKinney do not. Yet residents of those Collin County cities still use the train to commute south to jobs in Dallas County.
There are also fair share lots at the North Carrollton/Frankford Station on the Green Line, the Belt Line Station on the Orange Line and at the Northwest Plano Park and Ride bus station. All are currently origin points or major hubs often used by non-member residents.
DART planning and development vice president Todd Plesko said Tuesday the agency could earn revenue off the program in the future.
“But it would be relatively small,” he said.
Plesko said the addition of paid parking didn’t affect ridership at stations. He said many people from outside the service area now drive past the paid lots and get on the train one or two stops down. That has caused overflow at the Green Line’s Trinity Mills Station. The Red Line’s Bush Turnpike Station is typically at about 90 percent capacity.
Plesko said the change will likely decrease cars at down-line stations and increase them again at end-stations. He said the station’s lots should be able to handle the changes.
The full DART board is expected to discuss the plan next week. A vote is scheduled for Dec. 10.