By Alice Reid
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 2, 1999; Page B1

In the morning competition for parking at Metro's 29 lots and garages, "late" gets earlier all the time: At Grosvenor, downtown commuters say, don't bother arriving after 7:21. Make it to Vienna by 7:45, and to Anacostia by 8:10.

Nancy Jamiolkowski, like many other drivers, says she has to arrive about 10 minutes earlier with each passing year, just to have a fighting chance.

"There's a lot more honking, and I've heard drivers cursing because someone is going too slow," said Jamiolkowski, 44, a computer specialist from Reston who has been parking for eight years at the 3,641-space Vienna station lot to commute into the District. "Everybody is feeling the same pressure. If they could, they'd park on top of one another to get a spot."

Today's parking scramble, like many of Metro's woes, represents the difference between the world that planners envisioned decades ago and the reality of today's work habits. Thirty years ago, the region was pretty much contained inside the Capital Beltway, and planners thought commuters would be mostly guys, who would ride the bus to Metro stations or be delivered by spouses to "Kiss and Ride" lots.

It's a different world today. As Washington's suburbs have sprawled ever outward and as women have entered the work force in unprecedented numbers, the appetite for parking spaces at Metro stations has grown insatiable, and the transit agency cannot keep up.

"The number of two-income families is a lot higher, and time has become much more important," said Jim Hughes, Metro's chief planner. "It is faster for me to drive and do all sorts of chores on the way home. With both parents working, the bus becomes less convenient."

In the Interstate 66 corridor, which has a total of more than 6,444 spaces at Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church, there is an immediate need for 1,500 more spaces, and for more than 4,500 within the next 10 years, Metro officials said.

Along the Red Line, parallel to Interstate 270, an additional 1,600 spaces will be needed by 2010. The Green line to Branch Avenue, due to be finished in 2001, will need 7,400 spaces at four stations.

At Vienna, where lines to enter parking lots often stretch onto I-66, the desperation of Metro riders to park their cars somewhere -- anywhere! -- has driven some to try cadging spaces at a nearby shopping center, where 99 spots designated with yellow striping for Metro overflow fill up by 7 a.m. Parking outside the defined area has cost many a rider a $90 towing charge.

"Ninety bucks is a lot of money," said Clinton McCully, 51, of Oakton, a government economist and veteran Metro user who got nabbed in the Pan Am Shopping Center. "You'd think they'd come up with a better arrangement."

So far, Metro has added parking in mostly small ways -- spaces lined up on access roads to stations, contracts with nearby buildings and shopping centers to absorb the overflow. Two new garages are about to be started -- adding up to 1,500 spots at both Vienna and Shady Grove. And in the meantime, Metro will spend $2 million paving over a field at Vienna as a temporary fix.

Recently, under the direction of General Manager Richard A. White, Metro has begun to broaden its response to the parking shortage beyond the seemingly impossible task of merely adding spaces.

White has pushed recent efforts to meet a changing and specialized market -- mostly busy two-worker families -- willing to pay more for convenience.

In an effort that began last fall, Metro has gradually set aside 1,800 spaces systemwide for reserved parking, allowing some riders to arrive after the witching hour and still get a place. For that, they pay $20 a month, on top of regular parking charges, which range from $20 to $45 a month depending on jurisdiction. Metro patrols the reserved-parking areas, and cars left there without the proper sticker risk being towed.

Late last year, Metro also approved plans to experiment with special services such as oil changes and detailing at a few station lots. Again riders would pay extra for the services.

Another plan calls for the addition of spaces by allowing attendants to park cars closer together and keep the keys for riders. That program will begin in late May, Metro officials said.

So far, reserved parking has been a hit with those who have it, but it is still controversial. At five stations, dozens of Metro users are on waiting lists to get the monthly reserved parking stickers from parking contractor Penn Parking, which is based in Baltimore.

Lawyer Michelle L. Hylton, expecting her first baby in May, applied as soon as she found out about the offering at Vienna last December.

"It's made a huge difference to me," Hylton said recently while climbing out of her burgundy van about 9 a.m. "Before, I was feeling really sick, and added to that was the anxiety of finding a parking place every day. . . . There was no way I could drag myself out of bed early enough to get here in time to get a spot."

She's feeling perkier now but says the knowledge that she'll always get a spot, "even on mornings when I have a doctor's appointment," is well worth the extra fee.

Ella Ennis, a federal employee who lives in Fort Washington, has a reserved place at Anacostia, where 107 people are on the waiting list. She got the space last year.

"I used not to find a space after 8:10, so three days a week, I'd just have to drive downtown," she said. "Now I can take the train every day."

Jerald H. Walz, who lives in Calvert County and works downtown at a think tank, prefers to leave home later and avoid the heaviest traffic. The guaranteed space at Anacostia allows him to do that.

"I can also park my car here when I go out of town on business and take Metro to National Airport," he said.

But convenience for some spells inconvenience for others.

"For me personally, it would be better if there weren't reserved spaces," said Cathy Gates, 39, of Bethesda, a three-day-a-week government worker who doesn't feel she can justify paying for five-day-a-week reserved parking. "There are a lot of issues here. . . . I have to drive because of my children's day care."

Getting to Grosvenor by 7:15 is tough. Yet as she scrambles for a space, she sees dozens of empty reserved spots. Montgomery County reserves some street spots for those who arrive after 9 a.m., but those are taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

"That seems fairer," she said.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Katherine K. Hanley (D), who also heads Metro's board of directors, said she's reserving judgment on whether reserved parking should become a permanent Metro fixture.

"If people [unable to park in the regular lot] see an empty row of reserved spots, it'll never fly," she said.

Even some people who have reserved spots think they aren't quite fair.

"I held out on getting a permit for a while, because I thought having to pay more was pushing lower-income people out," Jamiolkowski said. "I think a lottery, especially as the reserved spots fill up, might be fairer. . . . They just need more spaces, pure and simple."

Metro's long-range vision, which would extend Metro stations farther into the suburbs and double transit ridership to 1 million rides a day by 2025, calls for an additional 23,000 parking spaces. But at $3,000 for a surface space and $10,000 for each garage space, that's a bill of $69 million to $230 million -- in today's dollars.

"By the time you open them, you're already behind again," said White, the Metro general manager. "The growing number of cars per household, the increasing number of discretionary trips, all those things make our job tougher."

METRO'S PARKING CRUNCH

Parking shortages at many of Metro's 29 parking lots leave commuters scrambling to get to a station in time to find a spot. Metro now sets aside about 1,800 reserved spaces for which commuters pay a monthly premium -- a program so popular that there's waiting list at some stations. A look at Metro's most popular lots and its under-used lots.