Data on metropolitan commuter rail station access and rider proximity to stations, together with analyses of station access improvements in other cities, suggests that an increase in non-auto commuter rail access mode share on the order of 20% could be achieved in the short term with the right investments and programs.

Getting riders to train stations is a pressing issue. Transit agencies are expanding and improving service, and ridership in many cases is climbing steadily. Rail operators in some cases must constrain ridership forecasts on the basis of station parking limitations.

Such limits are sometimes a matter of cost or constraints imposed by the local street system. But more often, they are imposed politically by municipal or citizen opposition to large traffic-generating facilities.

Parking construction as a station access strategy has other limits as well. An EPA analysis estimated that typically only one-half of new park-and-ride trips replace drive-alone trips to the final destination - even riders new to the rail station may have formerly taken a bus to the destination. This is especially true of Manhattan-destined travelers, because of high parking, toll and congestion costs.

The two-year-old station jitney service in Maplewood, NJ delivers about 200 riders from two routes to the station each morning - 12% of the town's rail riders. One-third of town residents live in areas not yet served - a town-wide jitney system may be able to serve 20% of the station's riders. An early survey of jitney riders found that 40-45% of users previously drove to the station, while 35-40% had walked and 10-15% had been dropped off.

A survey in Somerset County, NJ and a modeling study by the Chicago-area RTA indicate that robust investment in sidewalks, traffic calming, bikeways and bicycle parking could push the bike and walk share at stations close to 30% (walking's share in our metro area is about 20%, while cycling's share is negligible).

Costs of station parking vary widely, depending on location and whether any structure is involved. $3,000-$20,000 per space is the basic capital cost range, with annual operating costs at roughly 10% of capital cost. Some operating costs are recovered by parking fees. Experience and estimates place the cost of jitney service from $500-$1,300 per year per person. There are ample opportunities to cross-subsidize jitney services with parking fees.

Overall, these facts and findings support the idea that jitney/connecting bus, bicycling and walking have far greater potential to meet station access needs than current investment in these modes reflects.