Geneva adds pay parking near Metra, shuttle bus stops
As of Monday, Geneva's getting 321 more daily-fee parking spaces near the Metra station on Third Street.
That's good news for desperate train riders who don't have a parking permit and usually can't find a space in other daily-fee lots near the station after 7 a.m. weekdays.
But also as of Monday, people who parked at a remote lot and took the bus to get to the Metra station won't be able to do so, unless they plan on hoofing it 1.5 miles each morning and night.
Because Geneva is opening its new $6.5 million parking deck, the Regional Transportation Authority is shutting down bus Route 921, which ran to the remote lot at First Baptist Church of Geneva's east campus at 2300 South St.
That route also sent a shuttle from the train station to Delnor-Community Hospital and the Kane County Judicial Center.
Metra leases 100 spaces from First Baptist Church. The lease ends in June. The church is willing to re-sign the lease, said Eric Harris, the church's business manager. Harris said the lot appears to be about three-quarters full most business days. He declined to say what Metra pays the church.
RTA spokeswoman Judy Kulm said there are about 69 rides on the parking lot shuttle each day. Assuming a person rides both ways, that's about 35 riders. Its highest ridership was in September 2005, when it gave 172 rides daily. Use declined when train stations opened in LaFox and Elburn.
And the 90 spaces in the temporary permit parking lot on the west side of Third, north of the station, will be lost this fall as the eighth building of the Dodson Place development is built.
There is a free lot to the west of that one, but if you park there earlier than 8:30 a.m. you get a $10 ticket.
The new deck is on the north side of the tracks, east of Third Street.
It will cost $1.50 per weekday. Users can pay cash at the electronic payment center or load an electronic card (up to $60) and use that. There's a $2 fee to get a card, and it can be reloaded.
The card dispenser is located at the front of the structure just off of Third Street. The electronic payment center is inside the parking deck near the elevator. City workers will be there on the first day to assist commuters.
Despite 681 names on a waiting list for a parking permit, the city couldn't make the new deck a permit lot. The terms of the federal grant paying for most of the construction prohibit that.
The parking fees will be used initially to pay off the city's $1.05 million portion of the bill for the parking deck.