Government

Town Officials Puzzled by Low Use of ‘Boxcar’-Designated Parking Spots at St. A’s

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On its busiest day, the mobile app that allows commuters to park in the St. Aloysius Church lot has seen fewer than half of the available spaces taken, officials say. 

It isn’t clear whether the limited use of the Boxcar app reflects lack of demand or awareness, limitations in the mobile service itself, overly high rates, rigid parking habits or something else, officials said during Thursday’s meeting of the Parking Commission. Though use of the St. A’s lot has grown since the Boxcar spaces opened in September with $7 daily rates, “the state lots at $5 fill up first,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during the Commission’s meeting, held at Town Hall. “So at $7 I think it is probably a bit high,” Moynihan said.

Government

Selectmen Approve Lease Agreement: Boxcar To Launch Parking Service for 60 Spaces at St. A’s Next Week

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an agreement designed to boost commuter parking in New Canaan by 60 spaces through the St. Aloysius Church parking lot. Under a lease agreement that the Board of Selectmen approved by a 3-0 vote, the town will lease the spaces from St. A’s and make them available to commuters through a Cranford, N.J.-based company’s mobile app. Normally the company, Boxcar, works with private property owners who are offering spaces near train stations on a far smaller scale, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan.

Government

Town in Talks to Create Additional Commuter Parking Spaces Through ‘Boxcar’ App

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Town officials have been in talks for one month with a Cranford, N.J.-based company that recruits private property owners to offer parking to commuters via a mobile app, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. Moynihan said last week that the company, called Boxcar, generally launches in towns that have train stations. “They go to the funeral homes, the churches, the supermarkets—everything in the area around the train station—and they ask them to put their excess parking spaces into a pool, which is an online app where people go and reserve those spaces,” he told members of the Technology Advisory Committee at their inaugural meeting, held May 8 at Town Hall. “And people charge $5, $6, $7 a day depending on where the space is.”

Moynihan said the board plans to meet with the company again this week and officials have already spoken with St. Aloysius Church about making 50 spaces in its Cherry Street lot available on the Boxcar app.