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Darien commuter Mike Stambaugh uses parking vouchers when he parks his car at the Noroton Heights train station to travel into the city. He said the $3 a day fee does not bother him much, but there is no end in sight for his wait on the list to receive a much more cost-efficient parking permit.
"I've been on the list for three years. I haven't heard the phone ring telling me I've got one. I don't know if they'll call me or if I have to reach out to them."
Stambaugh isn't likely to get a call anytime soon. The wait for a parking permit is still years. Jim Thistle moved to town eight months ago. When he applied for a parking permit, he was told the wait would be four to five years. In the meantime, he will have to stick with the parking vouchers, which can cost a commuter twice as much per year as a $345 parking permit.
Because it takes so long to receive a permit, a driver tends to hold onto it, even if he or she doesn't use it every day. At a public hearing of the Board of Selectmen in October, several residents vented their frustrations that they had to pay so much to park, only to see empty spaces in the permit lots. Several options were levied to address the parking situation, but the Board of Selectmen said no discussions have been held since then on changing the system.
"I'm disappointed that after all that discussion, nothing has changed," said Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council. "It's the responsibility of the town to increase access to parking and availability of spaces." He added that the recent problems on the Danbury branch of Metro-North Railroad have led some commuters to travel to Darien to take the train into the city.
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