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Comment by Scarblac | Hacker News Reader

Dutch train stations have cheap parking for bicycles to solve that problem. Works great. I've had four different jobs over the years where I commuted by train (to four different stations) and used my bicycle on the office side for the last bit.

There are also rental bicycles for 4 euro / day to use on stations where you don't have your own stored.

(They parking buildings become really massive, but still much smaller than the same for cars would be: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2019/08/20/finally-fully-... ).

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Offhand, I can't think of any 'park and ride' style Car <> Transit (train or not) interface in the USA that _does_ charge anything to park there. Finding a spot might be an issue, but there's no cost as that's sort of built into getting someone to take the transit system at all.

As someone else pointed out, any additional friction (multiple transfers, etc) results in a direct all car route.

Most people are somewhat emotionally rational, but the models for calculating the emotional cost (friction) get everything wrong.

Delays past about 5-10 min increase the emotional cost exponentially. Stacking delays (multiple not-user controlled) legs grow even faster. Any uncertainty in the route also massively increases the emotional cost, more so if there's nothing the commuter can do. Contrast Japan's famously well run trains that will even issue an apology the commuter can take to the office of someone else being at fault (I remember this offhand, don't have proof offhand).

Also, the car is more than just getting the person there; it takes their stuff. Abandoning that car leaves behind the potential to move larger items or stacks of things. Plus the car might be critical for visiting friends, stores, etc after work.

All of that factors into the commuter cost.

> Offhand, I can't think of any 'park and ride' style Car <> Transit (train or not) interface in the USA that _does_ charge anything to park there. Finding a spot might be an issue, but there's no cost as that's sort of built into getting someone to take the transit system at all.

Almost every MBTA garage/lot in Massachusetts charges something. BART parking in the Bay Area also does. It's a pittance, though.

To add to this, you pay to park at DC Metro station parking lots (though you pay less if you're taking the Metro than if you're not).

> Offhand, I can't think of any 'park and ride' style Car <> Transit (train or not) interface in the USA that _does_ charge anything to park there.

Many of the lots at train stations in the Chicago suburbs charge fees to park for the day, usually a couple bucks, and there are annual parking passes that you have to wait years to get at some of the stations (I think Naperville is a 5+ year waiting list at this point).

However, all of the park n'rides for buses in the suburbs, at least those that I'm aware of, have free parking. And at least in my experience there's usually enough parking spaces for everyone who's taking a bus.

But the train system is much more desirable than the bus system here, so the demand for parking there is much higher. I live in a suburb that's like 25 minutes from all train stations, so I take the bus from a park n'ride just a few minutes from me, when it's on time it's pretty great, but it's not super reliable...I had to wait an hour at the bus stop downtown last Friday before my bus showed up (with another one for the same route directly behind it, they got that backed up) and once I was on it took an extra 30 minutes just to drive down one street in downtown Chicago, the traffic was so bad.

EDIT: While double-checking a few things, I discovered that Naperville is getting rid of its parking permits this fall and going to daily fees only[1].

[1]: https://www.naperville.il.us/about-naperville/transportation...

Bike park+ride is universally free for the first 24 hours, and after that only paid at major railway stations. The sole reason it is paid is to prevent people from leaving their bike there when they only use it once a week.

My local train station has a parking capacity of well over 20.000 bikes, and that still isn't enough.

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