BART Wants To Crack Down On People Parking In Coliseum Station Lot For Oracle, O.co Events
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- BART wants to crack down on people using the parking lot at its Oakland Coliseum station as free parking for events at the O.co Coliseum and Oracle arena and may soon charge as much as $30 during events there.
The BART Board of Directors will take up a policy at its meeting Thursday to charge between $7 and $30 on an event-by-event basis, BART officials said.
The station currently has a $3 charge imposed between 4 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, but charges no fee outside of those hours, when parking can be at a premium because of large events.
The Coliseum has only 10,000 parking spaces but can attract as many as 64,200 fans for Oakland Raiders games, 35,067 for Oakland A's games and 19,596 for Golden State Warriors games.
While many of those fans take BART to games, parking lots fill up quickly. The move could generate as much as $150,000 in extra revenue if all three sports teams are having good year, according to BART.
The amount of the fees would depend on the projected attendance, the time of the event and the anticipated impact on BART parking, among other factors.
New charges at the Coliseum are just one way BART is seeking to collect new revenues from parking. BART directors will also consider at their Thursday meeting hiking fines for parking violations.
Since 2008, parking violations at BART stations have carried a $35 fine for not paying a daily parking fee and a $40 fine for ignoring posted signs or parking in red zones.
But those fees have proven ineffective in deterring parking violations, according to BART officials. BART issued 61,410 parking citations in 2014 and 98,695 in 2015.
They are considering raising the fines to $55 for not paying the daily parking fee and to $75 for ignoring signs or red zones.
Fines would go up to $100 after five violations in a year and $150 after 10. Forged permits would net a $150 fine, according to BART.
If passed, the increased parking fees could raise BART's revenue from citations 60 percent or more.
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