Naperville closing in on ending commuter parking permit system

With commuter habits drastically changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, Naperville officials are moving closer to eliminating the time-honored tradition of commuter parking permits at the city's two train stations.

There's been talk for some time about a shift to expanded daily fee parking. The city council aims to begin the transition in the fall before eliminating commuter parking permits on Jan. 1.

The move will end an era in Naperville, where commuters used to spend time on waitlists for quarterly permits at the city's downtown and Route 59 stations. But even though permit lots were oversold by more than 50%, spaces consistently remained unfilled as people held on to the permits despite not needing them.

Now that more people are working from home since the pandemic, officials believe the time is right to end the parking permits. Since announcing the plan in March, the number of permit holders has dropped to 943 compared to nearly 2,500 before the pandemic.

Councilwoman Allison Longenbaugh, while in favor of the shift to daily fee parking, said she sympathizes with the remaining regular commuters.

She said the current quarterly fee is $120. But under the new system, regular commuters would pay $300 per quarter in daily fees for the $5 spaces closest to the downtown station.

"I don't think we should be dismissive of those five-day-a-week commuters," Longenbaugh said. "They truly are using it, and I think this change really penalizes them."

Spots farther away at the downtown station, and all spots at the Route 59 station, would be $2 a day. Instead of the current pay-by-spot system, there'd also be a switch to pay-by-plate. Weekly and monthly bundle options would be available to reduce lines at the parking lot machines.

Bill Novack, director of the city's transportation, engineering and development department, said the staff will look at discount options for regular commuters. However, that would affect the city's revenue.

Novack said the plan needs to be approved in September or delayed until the next quarter ends in April.

"There's a lot of undoing that needs to be done," Novack said. "We need to take action in September, or else it's going to get pushed further out."