That free GO station parking spot you’ve grown accustomed to might soon come at a price as the commuter rail service studies extending paid access to more of its 77,000 parking spots.

Metrolinx, the regional transit agency that operates GO Transit, is currently studying the prospect of paid parking, but the concept has not yet been cleared for implementation, said spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins.

“We are just studying at this point how to better utilize paid reserved parking,” Aikins said Tuesday. “Nothing is happening immediately as a plan has not been approved.”

There is no set timeline for when the study will be cleared, but its approval date will impact when and how the proposed changes are phased in, Metrolinx says.

Of the agency’s 77,000 parking spots at GO stations across the region, fewer than 10 per cent are currently paid or reserved spots, which cost $98 per month, Aikins noted.

“One of the options we are looking at is increasing the percentage of reserved spots very gradually,” she said.

“We are piloting a variety of options and continue to work with municipalities to support customers to get to stations other ways such as local transit, biking, walking, ride sharing and carpooling.”

A draft of the study suggests Metrolinx could have up to 50 per cent of its parking inventory transitioned to a paid system by 2022, but that goal has not yet been approved.

Meanwhile, the number of available parking spaces is not keeping pace with the number of people who drive to the stations, Aikins said. With lots at capacity for a quarter of GO stations by 8 a.m., many commuters struggle to find parking.

Creating more parking spaces, she said, is “not economical or good for the environment.”

Transit advocate and blogger Cindy Smith was pleased to hear that the paid system will not extend to park and ride locations, like the one she uses in Courtice, a few kilometres from the Oshawa GO stations.

While one of Smith’s concerns is that paid parking may “drive people back into their cars,” she credits the conversation with getting people “to think about how they’re getting to the station,” and to consider other options like biking or local transit.

Smith says such a drastic overhaul should not be approved without proper public consultation and study.

Metrolinx has been piloting a suite of initiatives in the past year, including collaborating with ride hailing services like Lyft and Uber to offer discounted rides to GO stations.

It has also tested the concept of freeing up reserved spots if permit holders don’t arrive by a certain time rather than have a space sit empty.

Customer data is also being used to drive some of the recommended changes. Metrolinx estimates that 62 per cent of its customers drive to a station with just one occupant in their vehicle.

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About 19 per cent of GO riders live within two kilometres of a station but still driving there alone, while 18 per cent of passengers arrive by foot, transit or bicycle.

The suggested changes are overdue and an important policy step as GO moves toward maximizing the potential of underutilized real estate, said Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

“GO is going to increasingly look at those sites and say is there a way we can do something different to provide housing, places to work or have recreation,” he said. “This is part of a bigger story.”

Metrolinx says it costs $40,000 to build a structured parking spot even before maintenance costs are factored in, and Siemiatycki said that’s one of the reason GO has to shift away to paid parking.

“This will be hotly debated,” he said, “but people will continue to ride GO.”

Jason Miller is a breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @millermotionpic

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