Ramsey park-ride to open August 22

I certainly agree that the schedule at the new station needs tweaking. A more important issue is that, according to a guy I work with who lives in Ramsey, they plan to charge (after Sept 30) $60 per month or $4 per day. This is excessive and not comparable to other parking rates in the area. It will certainly discourage use of the station. As examples, Ramsey charges residents $15 per year (!) to park at its Main St lot. Suffern at the moment has parking spaces available (shows the economy still hasn't recovered) for $300 per year, which is $25 per month, or $3 per day. It's true that Suffern will run out of spaces soon, and that Ramsey's $15 per year is only for residents. But, as of now, the NJT rate is non-competitive. Once again, they shoot themselves in the foot.

SecaucusJunction wrote:I went to see the first "Rush Hour" this evening at the new station. It looks like a success. The 6:12 eastbound had about 5 people get on it and the 6:13 westbound local had about 15 to 20 people get off. Both trains had at least 3 cars of low level doors of no use at this station. The people had to walk back 3 cars in order to detrain. Next came the 6:22 express from Secaucus. The 6 car train pulling into the station was SRO with people standing in the doorways. This train had all doors, including center doors open up and there was a flood of people getting out.

Alright! That's better than the first day after Secaucus opened!!

Noticed the cab 5107 had a big sticker on it by the door on the engineer's side of the car but on the opposite end. Something like "There are xxxx spots at Ramsey's new Park and Ride Station on Rte. 17."

A decade ago, when the MetroPark station was opened, there was a LOT of discussion about the parking fees. Should they be maket priced or set low enough to draw drivers away from driving to Newark, Harrision, etc?

The county authority's decision seemed to be to set them a little lower. With the large number of employees in the garage (prob 15-20 in the morning, and at least two full shifts), I wonder if even the big garages make much money? There are huge interest payments on the (likely) tax exempt bonds, lots of experts, consultants, advisors, relatives, etc to take care of....