Exclusive: Metro-North scraps plan to hike parking fees, eliminate free Saturday parking

• Parking fees would have increased by an average of 14 percent at 25 Metro-North lots.
• Board members said they were blindsided by the proposal.
• The plan would have increased revenue at the cash-strapped MTA by $1 million a year.

Metro-North has abandoned a plan to increase parking fees and eliminate free Saturday parking at lots in the Lower Hudson Valley, The Journal News/lohud.com has learned.

The decision came after several board members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Metro-North’s parent agency, objected to average annual increases of 14 percent at the 25 lots Metro-North operates at stations east of the Hudson River.

Rockland commuters would have been spared the daily increases but would lose free Saturday parking.

Several board members said they were blindsided by the proposal and first learned about it from a report in The Journal News/lohud.com days ahead of a November board meeting.

“We've heard concerns from our board members about the amount and timing of the increase and withdrawn the proposal,” Metro-North president Catherine Rinaldi said Friday. 

Among the most vocal critics of the proposal was Neal Zuckerman, an MTA board member who represents Putnam County.

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“When we heard about the MTA management’s plan to raise parking fees 10-14% without warning, I and several of my fellow board members found this plan to be severely problematic,” Zuckerman said Friday. “Our riders, especially those of northern Westchester and Putnam, are already overburdened, paying between $6,000-$7,500 a year to the MTA.”

The proposal was supposed to be discussed at monthly meetings scheduled for next week but was pulled from the agenda last week.

The plan would have raised about $1 million in revenue for the cash-strapped MTA. North White Plains commuters would have been hit the hardest with an increase of $114 in annual fees, raising their total to $1,250.

This doesn’t mean Metro-North commuters won’t have to pay more to park. Most of the lots near Metro-North’s stations are run by private operators or municipalities. And Metro-North’s rationale for increasing fees at its lots was to remain competitive with outside operators.

It was unclear if critics of the proposal even had enough board votes to turn back the increases.

Board members representing Putnam and Westchester County were opposed, while Orange County’s representative was undecided and one representing New York City was behind the idea.

Zuckerman thanked MTA chairman and CEO Patrick Foye for listening to board members’ concerns.

“After a unified effort by board members from across the region and elected officials from Putnam and Westchester counties, management came to understand that further burdening our riders was not in the interest of the MTA nor fair,” Zuckerman said.