Security at the South Everett Freeway Station on I-5 at 112th Street have been cracking down lately on those looking to park and ride — in their own vehicles, that is.

The extra enforcement has surprised many folks who had assumed privately arranged carpools could use the lot. Turns out, that’s not the case — at least not there.

Different park and ride lots in Snohomish County are owned or operated by different agencies, which have different rules, often driven by capacity issues. The South Everett Freeway Station is operated by Sound Transit.

“The parking policy at all Sound Transit park and rides boils down to this — the lots are only for transit users. That includes bus riders or those using transit-provided vanpool vehicles,” said Bruce Gray, Sound Transit spokesperson. “The South Everett Freeway Station has been at or near capacity since it opened, and we frequently hear from people who want to take the bus from that location but have trouble finding parking. We periodically do ‘emphasis patrols’ where our folks go to all of our facilities to monitor their usage and remind folks of the rules, which are also posted at all of our lots.”

The lot has 397 spaces and is at capacity.

One of the most recent “emphasis patrols” resulted in contacts with 60 people meeting for carpools in private vehicles. They were asked to leave and advised they’d be towed next time.

“That’s a lot of spaces that could be used for bus riders. The officers estimated that there were an additional 30 drivers who saw the security officers and left without parking,” Gray added.

There is some flexibility. Sound Transit lots with excess space allow carpoolers to park in designated areas. The Eastmont Park and Ride, near the Highway 527 and I-5 interchange, is one of those lots.

“But again, if we start to see that lot filling to the point where transit users can’t find a place to park, we’ll ask carpoolers to find somewhere else,” Gray said.

Everett Station, operated by Everett Transit, and all Community Transit park and ride lots are open to carpoolers. It’s first come, first served, and many lots fill quickly.

Below is the full run-down of Snohomish County park and ride lots, their number of spaces and usage (where known) and whether private carpools are allowed.

Snohomish County park and ride lots

City	Lot name	Capacity	Carpools?
Arlington	Smokey Point Community Church	50, full by 8 a.m.	Yes
	Arlington P&R	25, unk	Yes
	I-5 and Highway 531 P&R	32, unk	Yes
	Smokey Point Transit Center	No public parking	No
Bothell	Bothell P&R	220, full by 9 a.m.	Yes
	Canyon Park P&R	302, 99%	Yes
Brier	Brier P&R	8, unk	Yes
Edmonds	Edmonds P&R	255, 45%	Yes
	Edmonds Station	179, 84%	No
	United Presbyterian Church of Seattle	64, 40%	Yes
	Edgewood Baptist Church	10, 7%	Yes
	Edmonds Lutheran Church	15, 36%	Yes
Everett	Eastmont P&R	389, 51%	Limited
	Mariner P&R	644, 74%	Yes
	Everett Community College	No public parking	No
	South Everett Freeway Station	397, 100%	No
	Everett Station	1,107, 65%	Yes
Gold Bar	Gold Bar P&R	28, unk	Yes
Granite Falls	Granite Falls P&R	Unk	Unk
Lake Stevens	Holy Cross Lutheran Church	35, unk	Yes
	Ebenezer Lutheran Church	10, unk	Yes
	Lake Stevens Transit Center	207, unk	Yes
Lynnwood	Martha Lake Covenant Church	75, 94%	Yes
	Edmonds CC Transit Center	No public parking	No
	Swamp Creek on 164th P&R	410, 62%	Yes
	Lynnwood Transit Center	1,370, 100%	No (north of Transit Center), Yes (rest of facility)
	Ash Way P&R	1,022, 106%	Yes
Marysville	Cedar and Grove P&R	213, unk	Yes
	Marysville II P&R	57, full by 8 a.m.	Yes
	Marysville United Methodist Church	25, unk	Yes
	Ash Avenue P&R	202, unk	Yes
	Calvary Chapel	20, unk	Yes
	Marysville I P&R	74, unk	Yes
Mill Creek	McCollum Park P&R	409, 92%	Yes
	North Creek Presbyterian Church	10, 73%	Yes
	Advent Lutheran Church	40, unk	Yes
	Mill Creek Community Church	30, 31%	Yes
Monroe	Monroe P&R	102, unk	Yes
Mountlake Terrace	Mountlake Terrace Transit Center	880, 99%	Yes
	Seattle Meditation Center	22, 24%	Yes
	Bethesda Lutheran Church	20, 83%	Yes
Snohomish	Snohomish P&R	104, unk	Yes
Stanwood	Stanwood II P&R	38, unk	Yes
Sultan	Sultan P&R	38, unk	Yes

Sources: Community Transit, Sound Transit, Everett Transit, WSDOT

Note: This table was updated June 23, 2015, to clarify the Lynnwood Transit Center carpool situation and to update the Arlington and Ash Way listings.

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