What a beautiful image of empty asphalt!

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Our park and ride lots are horribly underutilized -- not all of them all the time, but many of them most of the time (and all sit empty for about half of each day). What a waste of resources to keep building these public facilities that are only utilized for 10 hours a day if "successful", and locating them in relative isolation to surrounding uses. Instead, why aren't we working to cross-utilize every park & ride lot? They should be required to meet one of the following two criteria:

1) Does the lot also serve a community center or other public facility?
2) Does the lot offset surface parking requirements for a connected commercial or mixed-use development?

The most recent example of the city and metro transit authority's failure is that of Phoenix's newest lot at Baseline and 27th Avenue (not even listed on Valley Metro's website). It is located at a quiet intersection surrounded by low-density residential uses and a few light commercial properties. 27th is a quiet two- to three-lane street for much of its short north-south run between the Salt River and South Mountain. To obtain this property, the city ignored Laveen residents' requests for more parking at Cesar Chavez Park, located one mile west at the intersection of Baseline and 35th Avenue. Not only would this intersection make more sense for a transit hub, but the city also has a legitimate need for more parking if the planned community center ever gets built.

So can we please start demanding better use of our tax dollars, pouring asphalt where it might actually provide greater economic benefit? Many would prefer that we never invest in another patch of parking in our city, but I think we can compromise by building it only for complementary cross-usage. We've done it for some, but let's make it all.