CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Pass the ordinance amending Section 11-2B of the Naperville Municipal Code to eliminate commuter parking permits and expand daily fee parking
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: William Novack, Director/City Engineer
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
On August 15, 2023, the City Council conducted the first reading of the ordinance changes that would convert all quarterly commuter parking permit spaces to daily fee spaces.
This ordinance change is being pursued to address the changing commuting patterns since the COVID-19 pandemic. Commuting has resumed, but not to the same levels as before the pandemic. Eliminating quarterly permits would also address many of the inefficiencies of commuter parking.
Commuter parking at the Metra Stations in the City of Naperville has consisted of a combination of renewable quarterly permits and daily fee spaces for decades. However, these two options are not efficiently meeting the needs of the commuter population.
August 2021
In August 2021, in response to the 2020 survey results, as well as the continued impact of the pandemic on commuter parking, the City passed two commuter parking principles to guide future commuter parking improvements. These principles were meant to guide the City as it modifies its approach to commuter parking to address long-term challenges with the way the current commuter parking program is structured. These principles established the overarching goal for commuter parking and address overall access to the station.
Principle 1
The City will provide commuter parking programs that maximize the use of the existing total parking supply by providing flexible parking options and fair privileges to all commuters.
Commuters currently have two options for parking at the Naperville and Route 59 stations: a renewable quarterly permit or daily fee. Quarterly permits allow a permit holder to park in a specified lot, but they do not guarantee a space. Prior to the pandemic, all permit lots were oversold. They were oversold to account for their significant underutilization. Many permit holders keep their permits, even when they do not need them. This pattern of behavior led to the City keeping waitlists for the permit lots. Those waitlists grew to over 12 years long. The long waitlists illustrate the demand for parking, but the City is unable to accommodate commuters. Permit holders are not allowed to share their permit with other commuters because it is not possible to track who is using the permit and creates a privileged network of permit users, not allowing fair access to everyone in the City. Permit sharing is a common abuse of the permit system and continues to persist.
When the 2021 principles were approved, two of the recommended actions were to commit to improving or eliminating the quarterly permit system by halting issuance of new Naperville Station permits and closing the waitlist to new applicants. The second was to modify the distribution of daily fee versus quarterly permit spaces at the Naperville Station by converting the Parkview lot from permit to daily fee. Both of these changes have been implemented.
These changes were communicated to commuters via the Commuter Connection e-newsletter.
Principle 2
The City will maintain a multi-modal approach to accessing the Naperville and Route 59.
The City has historically supported a comprehensive multi-modal approach that provides commuters with a variety of options when accessing the Naperville and Route 59 stations. The following actions were recommended in support of Principle 2:
1. Partner with Pace Bus to identify service for Naperville as commuter activity increases.
2. Maintain appropriate loading/unloading zones for transit vehicles at both stations. Designate rideshare spaces to reduce mode conflicts.
January 2022
The Parkview lot was converted from permit parking to daily fee parking. Existing Parkview permit holders were given Burlington lot permits.
These changes were communicated to commuters by the Commuter Connection, and permit holders were mailed a notice with their quarterly sticker prior to the changes taking place.
March 2023
In support of the approved principles and results from the 2022 Commuter Survey, staff moved forward with developing a transition plan to eliminate permits and go to all daily fee parking at both stations.
This plan was unanimously approved by the City Council on March 7, 2023.
Immediately following the City Council approval of the transition plan, staff sent out a Commuter Connection e-newsletter letting commuters know about the changes. Staff also put inserts in the permit sticker mailing to directly let permit holders know about the upcoming changes. The City’s website was updated with a notice about the approved plan and tentative timeline.
Spring 2023
City staff answered many questions and took feedback from the public and commuters about the proposed changes. In May 2023, the City’s website was updated to reflect that the timeline for the conversion to all daily fee would be pushed back from July 2023 to fall 2023. The roadmap approved at the March 7, 2023, City Council meeting established that December 31, 2023, would be the last day that quarterly permits would be used.
Multimodal Access to the Stations
The City continues to advocate for more transit service with PACE. PACE is currently operating four fixed routes in Naperville (Bus Routes 530, 559, 714, and 722) in addition to the On Demand service available for the northern part of Naperville. Three of the fixed routes (Bus Routes 530, 714, and 722) make regular stops at the Naperville Metra Station. Bus route 559 stops at the Route 59 Metra Station. Given the coming funding shortfall for PACE and relatively low ridership compared with pre-pandemic levels, it is unlikely that PACE will be adding new bus routes in our area in the near future. Pre-pandemic, ridership was low on the park-and-ride and commuter feeder routes.
DISCUSSION:
As a City asset, the commuter lots are meant to serve the community fairly, but the permit system unintentionally led to a small group of commuters who had priority over others by simply holding on to a permit and many not using it at all. Through extensive commuter engagement and outreach, a new plan was developed based on feedback received from both commuter surveys. By converting all quarterly permit lots to daily fee spaces, there will be flexible parking options and fair privileges for all commuters.
Currently, demand for parking is less than it was pre-pandemic. However, the utilization of the lot is something that City staff closely monitors. Daily fee spaces at the Naperville Station have been consistently 85%-90% full this year. The Burlington permit lot has been 50%-65% full this year. Daily fee parking at the Route 59 lot has been 45%-60% full and permit parking has been 10%-16% full this year.
The City will add an option through PayByPhone (mobile option) and T2 (pay station kiosks), two of the City’s commuter parking vendors, to have a weekly and/or monthly payment option.
Since the announcement of the elimination of quarterly permits, approximately 300 permit holders have canceled. Prior to the pandemic, there were nearly 2,500 permit holders, as of August 22, 2023, there were 932 permit holders.
|
Permit Lot |
February 2020 Permits |
August 2023 Permits |
|
Route 59 |
1,090 |
247 |
|
Burlington (including Parkview) |
982 |
503 |
|
Kroehler |
407 |
178 |
Permits have not been offered since March 2020 for the Naperville Station. Permits have not been offered for the Route 59 station since March 2023. Initially during the pandemic, staff did not want to offer permits and risk having the parking lots be too crowded when commuting resumed. As the pandemic progressed, staff continued to observe commuting patterns, gather data, and work with the City Council to create a longer-term plan to restructure commuter parking.
Commuter Fund Balance
Due to the decline in permits and lower commuting during the pandemic, the overall balance of the Commuter Fund is down. Taking action on commuter parking is necessary to address the financial position of the Commuter Fund. The Commuter Fund is forecasted to continue to decline. Expenses have been cut where possible, such as closing some lots during the winter to save on snow removal costs. However, most of the remaining costs are necessary to maintain the commuter lots. Revenue is directly impacted by parking lot utilization. At the beginning of 2023, the starting balance was $2,410,000. The projected balance at the end of 2023 is $2,155,000.
Option 1: $2 And $5 Rate Proposal
The proposed rates would be adding the Burlington lot to the $5 parking lots, which include the lots closest to the Naperville Station (DuPage Children’s Museum, Parkview and 190 E. 5th Avenue). The remaining spaces at the Naperville Station would be $2 and all the spaces at the Route 59 station would be $2. See attachments 2 and 3. With this change, 24% of the spaces would be $5 and 75% would be $2. The remainder are ADA spaces, which do not have a fee. The average daily rate for all commuter spaces would be $2.67. This is similar to other stations along the BNSF line. The ordinances have been updated to reflect these rates changes and adjust the description of the permit versus daily fee spaces. The Commuter Parking Rules and Regulations have also been updated to reflect the proposed changes.
The ordinance sets the daily fee rates at $5 and $2. Whether to offer weekly, monthly and discounted options need to be decided by City Council, but they do not need to be included in this ordinance. Whatever options are chosen will be further described in the City’s Commuter Parking Rules and Regulations, which are published on the City’s website and will be shared with all commuters.
Daily/Weekly/Monthly $2 and $5 Commuter Parking Rates
Staff recommends adding the option to pay for parking on a weekly or monthly basis, in addition to the option to pay daily. All options would be available through both the pay stations at the train station and the PayByPhone mobile application. Transaction fees would continue to apply for all transactions made with PayByPhone.
|
Daily |
$2.00/$5.00 |
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Weekly |
$10.00/$25.00 |
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Monthly |
$40.00/$100.00 |
Weekly fees were calculated by multiplying the daily fee times five. The monthly fees were calculated for every 28 days. The rate is five days per week multiplied by four weeks.
The City may want to consider offering a discount for weekly or monthly purchases. A 5% discount for weekly and a 10% discount for monthly could be considered.
Discounted Daily/Weekly/Monthly $2 and $5 Commuter Rates
|
Weekly$9.50/$23.75 |
|
|
Monthly |
$36.00/$90.00 |
As previously mentioned, the overall balance of the commuter fund has been in decline since 2020. Offering a discounted rate would likely accelerate the drawdown of cash balance in the commuter fund and make it unlikely to recover from a deficit. Staff modeled the projected commuter fund cash balance over the next 10 years. There are several variables that impact revenue, including parking lot utilization and the share of commuters who will buy a daily, weekly, or monthly pass, if it is discounted.
For both options, discounted and non-discounted, if lot utilization remains low, the fund balance will enter a deficit in 2026. That deficit would continue to grow over time and exceed $2,000,000 by 2030 if no alternative revenues supported the fund. All options and scenarios shown in the attached tables reflect a rate increase in 2028. Staff will monitor actual performance and adjust the timing of any future rate increase accordingly. See attachment 1 for the projected cash flows.
Option 2: $3 Flat Rate Proposal
A second option is a daily flat rate of $3 in all lots at both stations. See attachments 4 and 5. There are pros and cons to this option. The flat $3 rate provides the best fiscal performance of the options presented. It also provides a simple system because of a single fee for all lots.
This change does affect those who make the fiscal decision to use the $2 lots; it represents a fifty percent increase that was only recently communicated to them. Staff also believes this option will likely increase congestion for the spaces closest to the station. Having two rates helps distribute commuters throughout the different lots.
Discounted Daily/Weekly/Monthly $3 Commuter Rate
|
Daily$3 |
|
|
Weekly |
$14.25 |
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Monthly |
$54 |
Staff Recommended Rate Option
Staff recommends the $3 flat rate option, with discounted weekly and monthly bundles. This is the best financial option for the City and simplifies payments for customers. While this would be an increase in costs for many commuters, rates have remained consistent since 2008 and a rate increase is warranted.
Ordinances have been prepared for both the flat $3 rate and the $2/$5 rate. The City Council needs to indicate which ordinance the majority supports when voting.
Designated Preferred Spaces
Staff recommends designating the row of parking spaces in the Burlington lot adjacent to the railroad tracks as preferred parking for seniors aged 65 years and older and expectant mothers. These 24 spaces would still be subject to the daily fee. Signs would be posted indicating that they are preferred parking spaces. Similarly, staff recommends designating 21 spaces in the Route 59 lot as preferred parking. See attachments 2 and 3 for the location.
Next Steps Following Approval
Once approved, several tasks will need to be completed to finalize the conversion to daily fee parking. These tasks include:
1. Replacing signage in all parking lots.
2. Covering or removing space numbers.
3. Working with the City’s vendors, T2, ESS, and PayByPhone to reprogram the parking machine kiosks and mobile application to a pay-by-plate system.
4. Canceling permit accounts.
5. Communication and outreach to all commuters about the changes.
6. Amend contract with PayByPhone to add weekly and monthly payment options.
The timeline to implement these changes was approved in March 2023. Following that timeline, commuter parking permits would be eliminated on January 1, 2024. The switch from pay-by-space to pay-by-plate would begin in fall 2023. The permit stickers for quarter 4 are sent out in mid-September. This would be the last quarter for permits. Time needs to be allocated for staff to remove automatic bank drafts and stop billing before permit holders are billed for first quarter of 2024 at the beginning of November.
Prior to this City Council meeting, commuters were notified that this item, including the alternative flat $3 rate, would be on the agenda through the following communication channels:
• Commuter Connection e-newsletter,
• Updates to the City’s website.
• Signs posted at the train stations.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends passing the ordinance amending Section 11-2B of the Naperville Municipal Code to eliminate commuter parking permits and expand daily fee parking. The ordinance will establish all commuter spaces as daily fee parking, set the rates and change the payment structure from pay-by-space to pay-by-plate. If approved, commuters would enter their license plate at the kiosk or in an electronic mobile payment application, instead of the parking stall number.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The impact to the Commuter Parking Fund balance will depend on which option is chosen and how well the assumptions made are reflected in the future. Tables showing the different forecasted cash balances are attached. Signage modifications will cost approximately $5,000 to $10,000. However, these costs will be offset by a reduction in costs typically spent marking space numbers on the parking lot pavement.
Other costs include:
• Paint to cover over the space numbers on the pavement.
• License Plate Recognition camera for enforcement ($70,000).