This holiday season, the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce and the city want to take cars off the streets and bring more patrons into the stores by co-sponsoring a program that will guarantee shoppers four free hours of parking and a shuttle bus to run throughout the city’s business districts.
Free parking
The free parking will take place at the Hoboken Parking Authority’s Garage B, located on Second Street between Hudson and River streets. Those wishing to take advantage of the service can receive parking validation from most of the Chamber of Commerce’s member stores and several other local businesses. The offer is available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays starting Dec. 7 and will run through the last weekend before Christmas.
“We do this as an accommodation for the business community and for area shoppers,” said Chamber of Commerce President John Parchinsky. “People don’t have to worry about getting tickets and the hassles of finding an on-street parking space. That convenience brings more shoppers into our city’s stores, which benefits our merchants.”
‘Shop Hoboken’ shuttle
The free “Shop Hoboken” shuttle bus is an effort to assist shoppers and residents in patronizing the city’s main retail district without taking their cars.
The program will utilize one of the city’s buses, with the city paying for paying for gas and maintenance and the Chamber of Commerce paying for the driver.
According to the Chamber of Commerce, the bus will follow a continuous route beginning at Second and Washington streets, heading north to 14th Street, turning left onto Willow Avenue and riding down to 11th Street. The bus will then turn onto Washington Street, ride down to Third Street and turn left toward Hudson Street, where it will finally turn right to the public parking garages, completing the 20-minute route.
The bus will stop at all the designated points and run every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the rest of the month.
Parchinsky added that it necessary to offer garage parking and a shuttle bus so that all of the city’s businesses can benefit from the program. “Garage B is located close to the central business districts, but we also offer the shuttle which will transport shoppers to stores that are uptown,” he said.