"Mystic Pointe," a condo development in Ossining, advertises itself as "the easy commute" because it operates its own shuttle service to the nearby Croton-Harmon Metro-North Railroad station. Residents there have been known to give up second cars because of the shuttle's convenience. The arrangement could be one model for other communities struggling with the complaints from citizens wanting to get to the train but unable to park.

At a recent Westchester County Board of Legislators meeting, Metro-North vice president Howard Permut said the railroad parking/access impasse was not just a railroad problem. He said the solution rests mainly with municipalities ¾ Metro-North controls only one-third of the parking along its lines.

The rising demand for station access spotlights the absence of any coherent plan between the involved party. Many communities do not want more parking lots that will only add to traffic congestion in their towns, but commuters and regional planners rightly want to boost the commuter rail market.

To a large degree, it's up to Metro-North, as the largest player and the one whose services are in demand, to offer a better menu of options to its local partners. Instead of passing the buck, the Railroad should admit that it has fostered a station access drive-only monoculture and develop - amid its expensive drive to add parking to its system - alternative access capital projects at its own sites and planning tools for use by municipalities where the Railroad does not control parking or access. NJ Transit has developed working relationships with a variety of local partners, has a good history of installing bicycle parking facilities and recently launched a grant program for towns wishing to establish station feeder transit services. There's no reason Metro-North cannot do the same.

To do this, some cultural change at the Railroad will be needed. Last year, a spokesperson told the Campaign that bicycle parking was an "amenities" issue, planned separately from parking. A Brewster resident has written recently that he is routinely harassed by Metro-North police as he attempts to reach the Brewster North station on foot because he walks through an employee parking lot - the only decent pedestrian access to the station (Brewster North is slated for a $1.5 million parking expansion). This is shameful and should be set right by the establishment of a clear pedestrian right of way by Railroad officials.

Metro-North access problems outside the Railroad's purview include condo developments that were required to provide shuttles but that have not been made to live up to the agreement and Westchester Bee-Line buses that do not regularly meet Metro-North trains.