I was by Harrison Rd and saw that they have taken down the old warehouse that served as the Amtrak station, and they now direct traffic to the drive with the light down from the old entrance. It looks [or will] great,and it's so great to have a modern new train station.
An article on LSJ.com today is talking about parking here being $10/day now, whereas before it was free. It says that parking is controlled by MSU and that Amtrak has no say in the parking rate. This is the highest rate in Michigan along the route.
My understanding is that it's $10/day, but that there is a max rate that they can charge.
EDIT: Reading the article, it says that MSU enforces the parking lot, but does that mean they get the money or do they enforce it on behalf of CATA? Who's getting the money?
On one hand, if you're trying to revitalize a train culture, you'd expect Amtrak or the local government to at least subsidize the parking so it'd be free to passengers. On the other hand, I could also see charging a nominal fee. But my biggest problem is how duplicitous MSU seems to have been about this.
The article said that the weekly fee was $50. I'm surprised that this list across from MSU was free for so long. The parking should be free if you can show the ticket stub for the train.
It is a good idea to charge something, I would not be surprised if there were people who were not going to the station using the free parking which is rare[game days!] in that area. I also like the idea of showing your bus or train ticket sub to get free or reduced price for parking. If there are daily riders maybe a commuter/or long stay lot could be built were the old Q.D. is on Trowbridge.
Yeah, reduced parking with showing the ticket stub would work ($5 or $3 per day). It is nice to give people an incentive to take the bus or Uber/Lyft to get to the station.
Megabus is now saying that they are ending their service in East Lansing due to a lack of demand. Amtrak and Greyhound offer competing service to Chicago and Greyhound offers service to Detroit. It's a shame that Megabus is leaving. I preferred their service and their rates seemed cheaper each time that I was shopping around.
Indian Trails also offers service from the station (to Detroit, the UP, and Flint).
I guess if there is any silver lining, it's that it sounds like these cuts aren't Lansing-specific. The article in the LSJ mentions they are cutting service in Chicago, too, so maybe Megabus isn't being ran as well as they should.
Comments
EDIT: Reading the article, it says that MSU enforces the parking lot, but does that mean they get the money or do they enforce it on behalf of CATA? Who's getting the money?
On one hand, if you're trying to revitalize a train culture, you'd expect Amtrak or the local government to at least subsidize the parking so it'd be free to passengers. On the other hand, I could also see charging a nominal fee. But my biggest problem is how duplicitous MSU seems to have been about this.
Megabus is now saying that they are ending their service in East Lansing due to a lack of demand. Amtrak and Greyhound offer competing service to Chicago and Greyhound offers service to Detroit. It's a shame that Megabus is leaving. I preferred their service and their rates seemed cheaper each time that I was shopping around.
Indian Trails also offers service from the station (to Detroit, the UP, and Flint).
I guess if there is any silver lining, it's that it sounds like these cuts aren't Lansing-specific. The article in the LSJ mentions they are cutting service in Chicago, too, so maybe Megabus isn't being ran as well as they should.