TICKETING AT MINE ROAD

Part of the problem with parking lots filling up may be the growth in the area.

For many of us who slug, your solution will not work, unless we want to walk from one lot to another lot either in the a.m. or at night. I don't plan to do that because of the lack of crosswalks and lighted sidewalks/paths to the parking lots.

I commute from Stafford to L'Enfant in the a.m. (6:20-6:40) and from the Pentagon to Stafford in the p.m. (5:30-5:45). Under your scenario, I would probably get a ride in the a.m. However, within the last couple of months, the drivers have switched to picking up at Mine Road, so it's been at least a 20-30 minute wait at the old lot. And I have a real devil of a time getting a ride to the old lot on most afternoons--the Mine Road signs worked too well and there aren't as many drivers picking up for the old 610 on most nights.

So I now park in the Mine Road lot (have for a couple of weeks), and I'm one of the problem people. We slug from there simply because the probabilities on wait time are better for us at the Mine Road lot. If traffic patterns change back, I'll gladly go back to the old lot and I'm sure that many of the other slugs will do so. I resisted it a LONG time because I do not prefer that lot. But, in the meantime, I'll go where the drivers are picking up riders. Yes, it is about me. I don't want to be the one standing alone in the old lot waiting for a ride that may never arrive. I've not done that, but I know of at least one person who stood for a long time one day (over 40 minutes) and wound up going to Mine Road just to get a ride. I don't think she is going to the 610 lot now if she arrives at 6:30 a.m. or later because she doesn't want to get caught again.

If there is a 'rule' of when to pick up and where, maybe there should be signs posted and some type of penalty to the drivers/parkers if they violate the rules. (Sorry, tongue in cheek--a joke--but it may be more effective than flyers.)

Although a lot of people think it is horrid, perhaps the solution IS to restrict the lots to Stafford residents. Maybe that would ease the parking problem for awhile for those who arrive later.

Part of the problem with parking lots filling up may be the growth in the area.

For many of us who slug, your solution will not work, unless we want to walk from one lot to another lot either in the a.m. or at night. I don't plan to do that because of the lack of crosswalks and lighted sidewalks/paths to the parking lots.

I commute from Stafford to L'Enfant in the a.m. (6:20-6:40) and from the Pentagon to Stafford in the p.m. (5:30-5:45). Under your scenario, I would probably get a ride in the a.m. However, within the last couple of months, the drivers have switched to picking up at Mine Road, so it's been at least a 20-30 minute wait at the old lot. And I have a real devil of a time getting a ride to the old lot on most afternoons--the Mine Road signs worked too well and there aren't as many drivers picking up for the old 610 on most nights.

So I now park in the Mine Road lot (have for a couple of weeks), and I'm one of the problem people. We slug from there simply because the probabilities on wait time are better for us at the Mine Road lot. If traffic patterns change back, I'll gladly go back to the old lot and I'm sure that many of the other slugs will do so. I resisted it a LONG time because I do not prefer that lot. But, in the meantime, I'll go where the drivers are picking up riders. Yes, it is about me. I don't want to be the one standing alone in the old lot waiting for a ride that may never arrive. I've not done that, but I know of at least one person who stood for a long time one day (over 40 minutes) and wound up going to Mine Road just to get a ride. I don't think she is going to the 610 lot now if she arrives at 6:30 a.m. or later because she doesn't want to get caught again.

If there is a 'rule' of when to pick up and where, maybe there should be signs posted and some type of penalty to the drivers/parkers if they violate the rules. (Sorry, tongue in cheek--a joke--but it may be more effective than flyers.)

Although a lot of people think it is horrid, perhaps the solution IS to restrict the lots to Stafford residents. Maybe that would ease the parking problem for awhile for those who arrive later.

I have been leaving from the Pentagon--it's useless to try to slug from downtown at that time of the afternoon. Last night, it was better going to the old lot simply because it was a very short line and there were a lot picking up for the old lot. But every day last week, it was better going to Mine Road, even when the Mine Road lot line is backed way up. I've tried both. Anyway, that's why some of us have switched. It would have been great if there had been ONE location at 610, but the powers that be decided that two separate lots make sense. Good luck to you in finding a solution that will work for you.

That seems to be the problem here. Everyone wants a solution for just "them" and not looking for something to benefit all of the slug community. It's that same "me-me" mentality that is discouraging and slugging would have never taken off if everyone had that attitude to start with. Like I said, I've had to wait and be patient to get the Mine Road line off the ground in the first place. If you just stick to your guns and go to the right lot at the right times, it will work and everyone will have a place to park and the lines will be evenly distributed.

Yes, I am saying that we need to work together for a solution. I've had many a day and night where I have had to wait a long time for a ride and sometimes it was quite inconvenient. I've actually heard the early riders complain that they had to wait for quite a while for a ride from the Mine Road lot because most of the early drivers are at the old 610 lot. That is becuase it was operating that way for a long time and the drivers are used to the way it was and now things are out of whack because of people migrating over. So please, fill up the old lot first and then migrate over to Mine Road. And yes, the old 610 lot has plenty of parking spaces in the newly built section so that is not a valid excuse to not utilize the old 610 lot. And No, there is no way to restrict the early slugs from using Mine Road but you would hope people would want to work together to get it flowing in a positive way. Especially since the Stafford County government is now getting involved and they are saying that they may start charging out-of-county commuters to park at the 610 lots and the supervisors were out there themselves talking about doing just that and VDOT was out there this morning writing stuff down about the vehicles parked there. Let's get it fixed before that actually happens!!