Princeton Borough would also impose Sunday parking fees under the plan.
By: Jennifer Potash
Parking in downtown Princeton would double in price and include Sunday hours and later weekday hours if the Princeton Borough Council accepts the recommendation of a council committee.
The council had asked the members of the Princeton Borough Traffic and Transportation Committee to evaluate some potential changes including raising the cost of meters in the central business district and extending the hours of enforcement. Currently parking is free on Sundays and the meters are enforced until 7 p.m.
The committee, which did not have a quorum at its meeting Wednesday, discussed a list of proposals and questions from the council and made informal recommendations.
They included:
• raising the rates of two-hour meters in the central business district, which are now $75 cents per hour, to a $1.50 per hour;
• extending the hours of meter enforcement to 10 p.m. on weekdays; and
• adding Sunday hours, with the condition that meter feeding be allowed.
Two years ago, the committee considered Sunday meter hours, starting at 1 p.m., but rejected the idea based on complaints from church congregations that services and programs often extend into the afternoon.
Borough Council President Roger Martindell questioned that exemption at the council meeting Tuesday.
“Why should churchgoers be exempt from what all the rest of us have to pay during the week?” he said. “There’s nothing holy about a parking spot.”
A reason for not imposing Sunday meter fees has been the sentiment of residents that they are taxed enough and that parking should be free one day a week, said Arch Davis, chairman of the traffic committee.
A problem with Sunday hours is that parking use is different that day, Mr. Davis added. People tend to stay three or four hours, and most of the downtown meters have a two-hour limit, he said.
Sandy Solomon, a member of the traffic committee, suggested adding Sunday meter hours but also permitting meter feeding, making parking in the same spot beyond the two-hour limit possible.
That solution may not sit well with the Borough Council, which wants to clamp down on the practice and has expressed interest in progressive fines for repeat meter-feeders.
The fine for meter feeding in the borough is $18 per offense.
Councilman David Goldfarb said with the advent of hand-held computers, meter-enforcement officers may be able to check motor-vehicle records for repeat offenders.
Another component of the borough’s downtown parking plan is to encourage alternate transportation uses.
The Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association, a West Windsor-based nonprofit, commuter-assistance organization, has proposed a community shuttle bus service for the Princetons.
The intent of the bus service is to improve mobility around town for groups lacking access to transportation such as senior citizens and students, said Executive Director Sandra Brillhart said at Tuesday’s meeting.
But the program would also help the borough toward its goal of lessening the traffic congestion downtown, she said.
A grant program from New Jersey Transit would provide a 20-person van for municipalities to provide morning and evening peak- hour service to train stations, she said. The rest of the time the bus could be used for a loop route around Princeton, she said.
Based on an estimate of 15 hours of service a day, the cost of the program would be $131,000, she said. That could be offset to some degree through fares, she said.
With the participation of Princeton Township, the routes could be extended and the municipalities might be eligible for a second van, Ms. Brillhart said.
The council took no action on the shuttle bus proposal but appointed Mr. Goldfarb, Mr. Martindell and Councilwoman Wendy Benchley to meet with AAA Taxi, which provides the Crosstown 62 program, to discuss how the jitney service would fit in with that program. Mayor Marvin Reed said he would write a letter to Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand about the township’s participation.