Like anyone else these days, avoiding unnecessary costs associated with travel is a pretty good idea. And lets face it, one of the most annoying and costly of these can be parking at a major station.
My home station of Sacramento has become no different. It used to be free to park at the station many years ago, and then it became a modest $2 a day... Until the lot itself was turned over to the City of Sacramento for management. Things went downhill from there... They jacked it to $6 a day, and upped it two years ago to $9. Head out of town on the train for a week and suddenly you've handed over more than $60!! In return, you get a tiny parking spot barely big enough for your car and the ones next to it, which means door dings at the least. Not to mention, vandalism and break-ins are common at SAC, in the spots beneath the I-5 overpass and near the Railroad Museum.
What is one to do!?
If it is available to you, take transit. Did that on my last trip; took a cab to the nearest lightrail station and rode RT's Gold Line to SAC. It worked well enough, but some fellow passengers on the lightrail were annoyed with the baggage. I saved $130 from parking fees by doing this (was out of town for two weeks.)
The next one I'm going to attempt is departing from a different station. Right now, we leave on #14 from SAC to PDX on the 10th of January and return on #11 on the 17th; sleeper both ways. Since #14 has a horrible habit of being late into SAC, and would leave at midnight if it were on-time anyhow, heading one station earlier to Davis is on my radar. The parking there is FREE, the lot is a great deal more secure, and there are a lot of close-by bars/restaurants to spend the time waiting for the train in instead of the station. Not to mention, the station is much more intimate, has full services like checked baggage still, and there is not the hike out to the platforms like at SAC.
It'll cost me and my wife $30 extra to buy coach tickets from Davis to Sacramento and back, then occupy our sleeper in SAC as per the original reservation. Depending on the OBS crew, we just might be able to occupy our room to/from Davis too!
So, what have you or are you doing to avoid paying for parking on your travels?
My home station of Sacramento has become no different. It used to be free to park at the station many years ago, and then it became a modest $2 a day... Until the lot itself was turned over to the City of Sacramento for management. Things went downhill from there... They jacked it to $6 a day, and upped it two years ago to $9. Head out of town on the train for a week and suddenly you've handed over more than $60!! In return, you get a tiny parking spot barely big enough for your car and the ones next to it, which means door dings at the least. Not to mention, vandalism and break-ins are common at SAC, in the spots beneath the I-5 overpass and near the Railroad Museum.
What is one to do!?
If it is available to you, take transit. Did that on my last trip; took a cab to the nearest lightrail station and rode RT's Gold Line to SAC. It worked well enough, but some fellow passengers on the lightrail were annoyed with the baggage. I saved $130 from parking fees by doing this (was out of town for two weeks.)
The next one I'm going to attempt is departing from a different station. Right now, we leave on #14 from SAC to PDX on the 10th of January and return on #11 on the 17th; sleeper both ways. Since #14 has a horrible habit of being late into SAC, and would leave at midnight if it were on-time anyhow, heading one station earlier to Davis is on my radar. The parking there is FREE, the lot is a great deal more secure, and there are a lot of close-by bars/restaurants to spend the time waiting for the train in instead of the station. Not to mention, the station is much more intimate, has full services like checked baggage still, and there is not the hike out to the platforms like at SAC.
It'll cost me and my wife $30 extra to buy coach tickets from Davis to Sacramento and back, then occupy our sleeper in SAC as per the original reservation. Depending on the OBS crew, we just might be able to occupy our room to/from Davis too!
So, what have you or are you doing to avoid paying for parking on your travels?