After several improvements in 2015, the West Windsor Parking Authority (WWPA) has additional upgrades planned for the parking lots at the Princeton Junction train station.
The daily parking lots on Station Drive and Wallace Road are scheduled for repaving around August. The Wallace Road lot for West Windsor permit holders was repaved this past summer.
The Parking Authority would also like to repave the Alexander lot and the drop-off circle on the northbound side by the end of this year, according to longtime WWPA board chairman Andy Lupo, but those projects are awaiting NJ Transit approval. The daily Vaughn lot is scheduled for repaving in 2017.(There are currently no plans to improve the gravel lot or Vaughn Drive, a township road that extends into the Alexander lot.)
Beginning last February, commuters parking at the daily Vaughn lot can pay via a smart phone application or dialing an 800 number. The mobile app “Park Mobile” eliminates the manned entrance booths that previously accepted payment. Users can set up an account, input their license plate number, and pay for parking after boarding the train. It costs 50 cents per transaction, and commuters can pay for one day’s parking or pre-pay for upwards of five weekdays in a single transaction.
Currently only those who park at the daily Vaughn lot can pay via the mobile app, though in the next several months the WWPA is rolling out app availability for the daily lots at Wallace and Station Drive. Last year, the authority replaced the cash-only daily token machines for new machines that accept credit cards and require license plate information instead of a parking lot number. Ticket enforcement is now conducted via license plate recognition technology.
Those in possession of a precious parking permit will no longer be required to display them near the dashboard by the end of the year. Wallace permit holders already have their license plates registered, and the permit holders at Vaughn and Alexander are next. A two-car household with one permit may register both cars and either car may park at the designated lot without a physical permit. Of course, if both cars are parked at the same time, a ticket will be issued.
One project from last year is proceeding, while the another has been postponed.
Lupo is cautiously optimistic that a pedestrian trail through the woods between the Vaughn and Alexander lots, held up by state environmental permitting, will be constructed this year.
“We’ve gotten all the approvals. We had to go through a longer process than we’d like,” Lupo said. “The goal is a formal, slightly elevated path through the woods between Vaughn and Alexander.”
However, the installation of security cameras around the campus is on hold.
“We’re waiting for the technology to improve so we wouldn’t have to put in wiring infrastructure,” Lupo said. “We put it out to bid and it came in well over budget.”
There are a total of 4,163 parking spots surrounding the train station, and the WWPA holds 1,508 of them. Not including capital expenditures, the projected revenues for 2016 are $4,665,000 while expenses are projected at $2,929,000.
Snow removal and salt treatment is the biggest expense. The blizzard in late-January cost $400,000, and the WWPA is responsible for clearing and maintaining the sidewalks and train platforms as well.
Nearly 4,000 parking tickets were issued in 2015 by WWPA staff, resulting in more than $200,000 in fines for the township. The WWPA also pays the township $50,000 and 10 percent of net revenue to lease the new Vaughn lot, and it also can elect to contribute an additional 5 percent of net revenue to the township.
