How does the EIC know there will be sufficient parking at Hartsdale Train Station?

The EIC has received good questions about commuter parking at the Hartsdale Train station in a post-incorporation Edgemont. Specifically: what if a deal isn’t reached with the Hartsdale Public Parking District (“HPPD”) after incorporation, and the Village of Edgemont simply takes control of the parking spaces within its own borders?  Is that capacity enough to meet Edgemont’s commuter parking demand?

In answering these questions, we’ve realized that most people are unaware that, just as airlines overbook for flights, commuter parking operations--including the HPPD--typically sell more parking permits than they have spaces. The HPPD currently overbooks, and Edgemont likely will, also. But a Village of Edgemont would actually be able to overbook less than the HPPD does.

By what percentage does HPPD “overbook” its capacity? (The overbooking percentage is the ratio of issued parking permits to the actual number of parking spaces.)

Answer: HPPD overbooks by 29%.
Of the figures provided by the HPPD, the highest total outstanding number of HPPD-issued permits during one quarter was 864 (684 annual permits + 180 quarterly permits). In reviewing the Greenburgh Comprehensive Plan (http://bit.ly/Greenburgh-Comp-Plan-Parking) and walking the several of the lots both individually and with a parking management expert from ProPark (https://www.propark.com/), the EIC has concluded that the total number of commuter spaces is 669.

Thus, the HPPD “overbooks” its commuter spaces by 29% (864 permits / 669 parking spaces).  This is not unusual; issuing 25-40% more permits than spaces is typical industry practice for commuter lots, according to ProPark. The HPPD further reports that it is “not aware of occurrences in which commuters cannot find an available parking space on a given day.” (See page 2 of http://bit.ly/Third-HPPD-FOIL .)

We note that the HPPD actually underreported its commuter permit parking capacity (see here: http://bit.ly/First-HPPD-FOIL), perhaps due to when the count of spaces occurred and the configurations of the respective lots counted. The HPPD’s lower parking space numbers would have strengthened our position (by indicating that the HPPD overbooks at an even higher rate), but since the Comp Plan gave a different number, we dug deeper and checked for ourselves.  

If Edgemont were a village today and operated its own parking permits, by what percentage would the village likely overbook its capacity?

Answer: 18% or less (Edgemont would have more relative capacity, so wouldn’t need to overbook as much as HPPD).
To answer this question, you first need to know how many spaces the Village of Edgemont would have.  Of the 121 spots on the pipeline (site “E”), 92 and ½ spaces lie within the proposed Village of Edgemont borders.  Site D (located across the tracks, south of the Fenimore bridge) lies entirely within the Village of Edgemont borders. While anyone can count those spaces in person, another reliable method is to use Google’s 3D satellite imagery of Site D to count the spaces online: http://bit.ly/3D-Map-of-the-HPPD. Use your mouse and shift key to fly virtually around Site D, and you will find 142 permit spots and 36 metered spots. Don’t forget to fly in under the trees.

No law or deed restriction mandates that a Village of Edgemont keep the daily parking meters, and so the Village of Edgemont can convert those 36 metered spots into commuter parking, for a total of 178 spots in Site D.  Meanwhile, no law or deed restriction prevents the HPPD from converting some of its remaining commuter spaces to metered spaces. Thus, there need not be a net loss of metered spaces at the Hartsdale Train Station.

The combination of the 178 spaces in Site D and the 92 spaces on the pipeline will yield 270 spaces under the control of the Village of Edgemont—and that’s before removing any fencing, gates, meter stands, and related equipment. Based on the space available from the meter stand, gate equipment and fencing, ProPark advised that the Village could add 10 more spaces (the EIC had only estimated 6, but we defer to experts), thus bringing the total spaces in Edgemont to 280.

The second thing you need to know is how many Edgemont households will want a parking permit. The EIC has learned that the number of HPPD parking permits held by Edgemont households ranges from 320-330 (see here for 2017 data which has lower numbers than that range: http://bit.ly/Fourth-HPPD-FOIL). Using those numbers, the number of permits (320-330) exceeds the number of spots (280) by 40 to 50.  That means Edgemont’s overbooking ratio would be between 14% and 18%, materially lower than HPPD’s current 29% ratio.

Question 3: Does a Village of Edgemont have enough spots for its commuters?

Answer: Yes. 
If Edgemont uses the 29% overbooking rate currently employed by the HPPD, we could issue 361 permits.  Of course, as discussed above, there likely won’t be a demand for 361 permits--in which case the overbooking rate is likely to be well lower than the HPPD’s.

Question 4: Does Edgemont have capacity for more commuters?

Answer: Yes.  
ProPark also advised that it could create 45 additional spaces with valet service (the costs of which would be offset by the incremental permit revenue), bringing the total number of spaces from 280 to 325 (obviating the need to overbook). ProPark currently runs the valet service provided at the Freightway lot (owned by the Village of Scarsdale) near the Scarsdale Train Station.

As an added future step, the Village of Edgemont could also create temporary or permanent structures (if it so chooses) to expand parking capacity even further.

Question 5: Would I still be able to park where ever I wish? 

Answer: No.
If the HPPD and Edgemont do not come to an agreement post-incorporation, permit parking at the two structures (located in sites A and F respectively) would be outside the boundaries of the Village of Edgemont. Permits issued by Edgemont would only be available in Site D and the southern 75% of the pipeline. The rest of unincorporated Greenburgh, which is currently able to park in the Edgemont lots, would be forced to park in only HPPD lots.  This is why we think it is more likely that the HPPD will negotiate with a Village of Edgemont to keep the status quo.

Question 6: Would the permits for Edgemont cost more or less than they do today?  

Answer: The Village of Edgemont may have an opportunity to lower the cost of permits. 
That’s because: 1) fortuitously, the cell phone towers (which generate over $100,000/annum in rent) are within the Village’s boundaries; and 2) the cost of maintaining the open-air Sites D and E lots is less expensive than maintaining the non-Edgemont multi-level structures in the HPPD.