OCEAN CITY — The extent to when the West Ocean City Park-and-Ride shuttle should be free this summer was debated this week.
Last year, the resort’s parking task force recommended changes in the downtown parking rate structure, changes ultimately approved by the Mayor and Council. As a result, the hourly parking rate was nudged slightly higher during peak times in the summer at the Inlet lot, the municipal lots and on the street in the downtown area.
The task force, cognizant of the potential backlash for raising the hourly rates at certain peak times, also recommended a handful of tradeoffs to make the increases more palatable for the public. For example, parking will be free in those areas during the week in the shoulder seasons.
In addition, the task force recommended making the shuttle to and from the Park-and-Ride free on almost every day in the summer, excluding certain significant special events and holidays. The concept is to encourage people to park at the facility in West Ocean City and take the free shuttle into town for the beach, Boardwalk and other amenities.
Resort officials were generally keen on the concept and the only real issue left to resolve was which peak dates the city should continue to charge for the Park-and-Ride shuttle. Last week, the Transportation Committee recommended Springfest, the Ocean City Air Show, the Fourth of July and Sunfest as dates the city should continue to charge for the shuttle. The Mayor and Council took up the debate during Tuesday’s work session and there was some clear division, not with the recommended dates, but with the concept in general.
“The Park-and-Ride shuttle will be free this summer except during certain special events and holidays,” said Mayor Rick Meehan. “When we took into consideration making the Park-and-Ride shuttle free as part of the downtown parking initiatives, one of the tradeoffs really was to make the shuttle free to encourage those who use the service, especially some of the employees, to take advantage of that and that’s how this all came together.”
Council President Lloyd Martin said he had mixed feelings about charging for the shuttle only on those certain dates.
“We cause most of the use of the Park-and-Ride to happen on Springfest and Sunfest, but not necessarily on the Fourth of July or even the air show,” he said. “I almost feel like if we created the atmosphere of getting on the bus and riding into town, that’s a good thing. Now, we’re going to charge for it. I’m not sure about it because we cause part of the problem. I have gone back and forth on this. Is it worth doing on just those weekends?”
For the record, the shuttle generated about $111,000 last year when the service was paid for every day. The anticipated revenue of charging just on those certain events and holidays is around $38,000. Meehan pointed out there was an increased cost associated with the expected volume increase at the facility.
“The one thing is we will have to increase deployments during those events,” he said. “There will be an additional expense because there will be additional deployments required to handle that increase in traffic and volume, so that is something that was taken into consideration.”
Councilman Tony DeLuca made a motion to approve the recommended changes, a motion seconded by Councilman Matt James, who said it boiled down to simple economics.
“I support this because I think it reflects basic supply and demand,” he said. “These are times when we have a high demand for the service we’re providing and I have no problem with that. I think this is a good idea and I look forward to seeing how this plays out.”
However, Councilman Dennis Dare provided a brief history of the Park-and-Ride and pointed out if there was a fee for riding the shuttle, many would likely take their chances of finding a parking spot in the downtown area.
“The reason we built the Park-and-Ride was to give people a place to park and then take mass transit or even walk into town,” he said. “The traffic is at its peak during these events. It stands to reason if you’re going to charge people, they’re going to drive on by and come into town to look for that free parking spot.”
Dare said charging for the shuttle only on those certain dates ran counter to the basic premise of the tradeoff.
“When the committee came up with the concept of making the Park-and-Ride shuttle free, initially it was under the premise that all of the parking downtown would be paid parking, but the committee went away from that,” he said. “What’s the purpose? We want to alleviate traffic during some of these events and this proposal doesn’t do that. I believe it results in more people driving into town instead of parking and riding.”
The council voted 4-2 with Dare and Martin opposed and Council Secretary Mary Knight absent to approve the recommended changes.
