Park-and-ride expansion set for February

   Parkway Corp. officials said they hope January is the last month that commuters experience parking problems at the Route 130 park-and-ride.

By: Joseph Harvie
   Parkway Corp. officials said they hope January is the last month that commuters experience parking problems at the Route 130 park-and-ride.
   Some users of the park-and-ride have complained about the difficulty in getting monthly parking passes, despite being present during times they were supposed to go on sale.
   The 550-parking space facility is owned by the N.J. Turnpike Authority and is operated by the Parkway Corp., of Philadelphia.
   Howard Trachtman, vice president of the Parkway Corp., said the facility had been trying to accommodate as many cars as possible, letting people park on the grass and on sidewalks, but police and fire officials forced them to limit parking to actual parking spots about six months ago.
   The Turnpike Authority then had the Parkway Corp. sell monthly passes at the facility, Mr. Trachtman said.
   Mr. Trachtman said that 300 regular monthly pass purchasers were grandfathered into the program, with those customers getting first dibs each month, leaving only 250 passes for people to purchase.
   He said that he expects the problem to be solved when February passes go on sale in January, because a $2.2 million, 414 parking spot expansion is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 1.
   He said the additional spots should be included when the passes go one sale.
   "Hopefully we’ll have plenty of room for everyone," Mr. Trachtman said.