What do people do without a train parking permit??? (White Plains: how much, buying a house)

[streetsmart]

If you need to take the train to work and move to a town where there is a waitlist for a parking permit, what do you do? Realistically? I really want to know what people do. Do their spouses drive them every day? Do you try to get to know all your neighbors to find out who has a permit and then offer them money for a ride every day? Are there other places to park (gas stations, other parking lots) charging an arm and a leg I assume?

I am specifically wanting to know about Rye. The home we are interested in is actually closer to the Harrison station, but Harrison only gives permits to residents. There is also daily parking, but I can't imagine doing that for years. Or do people save their quarters and do it? Are there places near the Rye/Harrison stations that will let you park for a fee? We have a baby and are trying for #2 and I just can't imagine it will be feasible for me to drive my husband to the station every morning, but maybe I'm being selfish and I need to suck it up.

This issue is causing us to question the logic of buying a house there, so any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

[havoc315]

There are some stations, like North White Plains, with ample parking for non-residents.
But yes, there is also carpooling, spouse dropoffs, etc, while you wait for the permit.

[SunnyT4]

Yes to quarters, yes to spouse drop-off, yes to gas station parking lots. When I moved here from the South, it was a bit of a shocker to learn what people put up with. Even with the higher salaries, I felt that my standard of living dropped because these type of quality of life issues.

[dma1250]

The best advice is to move somewhere close to a station with a large number of non-resident parking places, like the Croton-Harmon station. I don't think there is even a waiting list for non-resident permits. And if there is, there is always room in the daily parking--which does not have meters and therefore doesn't need any quarters.

[jyyanks]

Yes to all. We hesitated buying our house because of the parking situation but got lucky because there was a space available at a nearby train station. I drive 10 minutes to a station and pay $1200/year to park my car.

When we were selling our house, a woman from the city was thinking of buying it but was concerned about the parking situation. Our realtor actually called around and found a gas station at the same place where I was parking that had spaces available. If you really want that house then you may have to sacrifice a little - get up a bit earlier, take public transportation to the train station, pay a car service, drive 15-20 minutes to another train station etc - until a space opens up. Good Luck.

[babieej]

You can always try to carpool with someone that also commutes into the city and has a parking pass for the time being.

[Jane09]

How much does the metered parking cost (per hour, or per day)?

[NYGirl128]

I walk to the station unless the weather is terrible then I either carpool or get dropped off.

My walk is just under a mile or a reliable, quick paced 12 minutes.

[karen824]

Have you looked into public transportation to the train station at all? I don't know about Rye, but in Scarsdale there are some neighborhoods that are near a bus route that has frequent buses down to the Village and the station. Edgewood is one--there is a bus that goes down Grand Boulevard and then turns onto the Post Road and continues down to the Village. That was how we always got to & from the station when we commuted.

[Minathebrat]

I know people when house-hunting look for houses within walking distance to the train for specifically these issues. It's the most permanent solution. The train/parking situation IS ridiculous, but it is also a reality, unfortunately.