Extend off-peak Shore Line East service to weekends and later evening periods. With upgraded signaling and rolling stock, capacity could be greatly increased on the New Haven line. Growing ridership and crowding in fact dictate an urgent need for additional investment and new service. The present level of investment in New Haven Line rail cars is only permitting service to tread water. Getting to the train Station parking is an important rail system capacity issue.
More parking is needed at many stations.
However, it should be pursued with other station access strategies, such as local feeder services and better walking and cycling access. Part of such an approach is local land use planning that emphasizes a rail station area as a mixed use commercial and residential center. Using the station as an activity and development anchor optimizes state and community investments in rail services and stations. 4 Additional station parking should be approached as part of regional and local planning processes in the New Haven Line and Shore Line East corridors and Capital Region corridors as transit lines are developed there. The undertaking should emphasize mixed use development at transit stations, local planning that accommodates bicycle and pedestrian access to stations, a fair distribution of parking that attempts to meet locally-generated demand, and tests the feasibility of bus and local feeder services to reduce some demand for parking.