HOBOKEN — The Hoboken Parking Utility announced Thursday that the waiting lists for parking in municipal garages will be eliminated, a city spokesperson said. The wait list, which typically forced residents to wait for years at a time, was eliminated due to the sale of the Hoboken University Medical Center.
“When I took this job, I was handed a wait list for garages that in some cases was over 200 people and nearly three years long,” said Transportation and Parking Director Ian Sacs. “After two years of careful management, organizational changes, and creative thinking from my staff, we can proudly say there is no longer a wait for anyone who wants to park in a municipal garage!”
The HPU manages five municipal parking structures. In 2009, four of five parking facilities had extremely long waiting lists while one was “underparked.” While some garages have availability limited to certain options, everyone who wishes to park in a municipal garage may now do so.
A city spokesperson said that actions to eliminate the wait list included eliminating unauthorized/undocumented parking accounts in an early audit of all facilities, standardizing application and wait list procedures, the tracking of occupancy statistics, the creation of new options that better meet the needs of customers, clearer documentation about availability, and the re-balancing of parking to better match supply and demand throughout all facilities.
According to a release from a city spokesperson, the city introduced the “Monthly Limited” parking option for residents in order to address the mismatch between supply and demand at municipal garages. Residents who commute with their cars to work each day can enjoy a 30 percent discount on the standard rate in return for committing to be out of the garage between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. As of March 2012, about 140 residents are signed up for that option.
This year, HPU plans to upgrade the elevators and stairwells in all garages and address needed structural improvements, pending City Council approval of a bond ordinance, according to the release. –Stephen LaMarca