DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707180594

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHEN KIEHL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   62 lines

PORTSMOUTH MOTORISTS LIKE THE EASE OF PARK AND SAIL

Riders of the Elizabeth River ferry know what they're missing by taking the boat to work: congested tunnels, long delays, expensive downtown parking.

And they don't mind at all.

They're guinea pigs for a pilot program, called Park and Sail, run by the transportation management company Traffix. Every morning these riders park free in downtown Portsmouth and take the ferry to their jobs in Norfolk. After work they board the ferry for the return trip, avoiding the headaches of rush-hour traffic.

``I don't want to be sitting in traffic. I want to relax on the ferry,'' Vernon Lewis, a purchasing agent for the Coast Guard, said one afternoon as the ferry motored toward Portsmouth. ``It's convenient and economical.''

The program began in May after the Coast Guard hired Traffix to work with its employees to develop transportation alternatives. Traffix found that many workers were interested in taking the ferry to work, said Traffix director Carol Russell. Traffix leased 15 parking spaces in a downtown Portsmouth parking garage from the city at a cost of $2,250 for six months.

News of the program spread quickly by word-of-mouth, and now more than 20 people are waiting to join when more parking spaces become available, Russell said.

The city is charging Traffix $25 a month for each space, compared to the normal $40 a month, Portsmouth spokesman Ken Wheeler said. It's a good deal for the city, though, because it's a gross contract, and Traffix paid for all the spaces for six months.

``And it's the kind of thing that the city wants to promote - the concept that the river doesn't separate places but connects them,'' Wheeler said.

Most of the 15 people participating in the pilot program are employees of the U.S. Coast Guard Maintenance and Logistics Command Atlantic.

They park free at the Crawford Square Parking Garage and pay only for the cost of the ferry: 75 cents each way or $25 for a monthly pass. For many, this is less expensive than the cost of parking in Norfolk.

Lewis said he used to pay as much as $50 a month to park in Norfolk. Now he parks free, and the Coast Guard reimburses him for the ferry fare.

``But even if they didn't have the free parking, I'd still do it,'' he said.

One of the people waiting for a space to open is Norm Wilson, a 35-year-old first class petty officer with the Coast Guard.

``I heard about the program in April, and at the time I parked in Harbor Park,'' said Wilson, who lives in the Churchland area of Portsmouth. ``But I got tired of dealing with the traffic in the tunnel.''

Wilson now takes the ferry to work even though he couldn't get into the Park and Sail program. His wife drops him off and picks him up at Portside. His monthly ferry ticket costs the same as monthly parking at Harbor Park ($25), but he said taking the ferry is ``a lot less stress.''

Traffix will evaluate the success of Park and Sail in October and is likely to expand the program this fall, Russell said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

JIM WALKER

Coast Guard employees who work in Norfolk are in a pilot program

that lets them park in Portsmouth and ride the ferry over. It may

not save them much money, but it does save on headaches. ``I don't

want to be sitting in traffic. I want to relax on the ferry,'' said

one pleased customer of the water service.

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