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Official website for the City of Aurora, Illinois. Mayor Tom Weisner

Route 59 Commuter Station Parking Survey Results

In an effort to facilitate discussion between the patrons of the train station and the staff of the Motor Vehicle Parking, a simple random sample survey was taken from those of you who chose to participate regarding your issues with the Rt. 59 Train Station.

The following are the results of the survey:

  • 72% - Congestion exiting and entering parking lot
  • 61% - Insufficient parking
  • 11% - Wait list too long for monthly permit parking
  • 11% - Think it’s unfair daily vs. monthly parking fees
  • 9% - Pay stations not working
  • 9% - Think it doesn’t matter if you punch in wrong space number
  • 7% - Permit parking mishandled
  • 4% - Think parking enforcement office problem
  • 4% - Re-marketing of permits
  • 4% - PACE bus lines
  • 2% - Inconsistency with parking attendants
  • 2% - Think there is a problem with the tunnel
  • 2% - No speed bumps- Drivers are courteous
  • 2% - Too much parking too cheap-Car pool option
  • 2% - Maintenance of lot

Comments from Phil Silagi, Superintendent of Motor Vehicle Parking Systems and Building, Grounds and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Beykirch are listed below.

Comments

Joe Hopp, Superintendent

You should be aware that the parking lot at the train station is not owned by the City of Aurora, it is owned by Metra. At taxpayer expense, the parking lot has been expanded numerous times. The parking lot surface cannot be expanded further due to land constraints.

Here are some things that the City of Aurora is doing to affect a smoother flow through the train station facility.

As part of a mixed use development planned for the area south of the station, a four lane roadway (Station Blvd) will be constructed which will connect Meridian Lake Drive with Liberty St. and New York St. The intersection of Station Blvd. and Meridian Lake Drive will be signalized and connect with a new entrance to the commuter parking lot on the east side. In order to better utilize the new entrance, changes will be made to the parking lot to improve traffic flow. As an added benefit, the changes will result in approximately 100 additional parking spaces.

While the 100 additional spaces will not be available until fall 2008 or spring 2009, we have just recently created a park and ride lot at Fox Valley Mall, which could provide parking for up to 300 additional cars. Details concerning the park and ride lot were included in a notice which was placed on cars during the past week and are also available on the City’s web site.

The last issue that was of concern to a large number of respondents was the waiting list for permits and the low cost of permits as compared to daily fee parking. We believe the low of permits encourage people to hang on to them even though they may only use them occasionally. This practice results in slower turn over of the waiting list and under utilized permit parking areas. To correct this problem the City of Aurora will be increasing the price of permits to around $40.00 per month, which will equalize the cost of permit and daily fee parking. We are attempting to implement this in concert with Naperville at the same time. We expect that this would take place before the end of the year.

The remaining issues of concern were reported by much lower number of respondents and may be addressed by contacting the City Motor Vehicle Parking Systems Division via email or by phone at (630) 256-3580. Thank you for your participation and cooperation, please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Joe Hopp, MVPS

Chris L. Beykirch, Chairman

As you can see efforts are constantly being made to improve the current situation. The Rt. 59 station is the most used station on the Burlington Northern line into Chicago. Please be aware that the situation will never be perfect. Your assistance in sharing rides with others, doing a kiss and ride, if your situation allows would greatly assist in a smoother operation

Finally, the Building, Grounds & Infrastructure Committee has, with the results of your survey, encouraged the city administration to better utilize the internet to get information to riders. We hope you assist us towards more efficiency by contacting the MVPS through the website at www.aurora-il.org with your questions and comments.

Thank you for your time and interest in making our community a better place to live.

Building, Grounds & Infrastructure Committee

Chris L. Beykirch, Chairman

Committee members:

  • Robert Shelton
  • Juany Garza
  • Lynda Elmore