YourCT.com header image 2
← Norwalk: Cafero Secures Funds for Oyster Shell Park Norwalk: Wilms Hosts Municipal Finance Forum →

Norwalk: The Wheels on The Bus Go Round and Park


by turfgrrl


June 28th, 2007 · 2 Comments

For some reason, the buses that transport groups of kids to the Maritime Aquarium head over to Vets Park for parking. Before the Parking Authority Parks and Rec charged out of towners with a $5 fee, this arrangement seemed to have worked. Since the $5 fee though, buses are opting to circle around Vets park and park on the streets. Not surprisingly this has residents eager to ban bus parking on the narrow streets. The solution seems to be rather simpler, the Maritime Aquarium should work out a deal to obtain a special bus parking pass to give to bussed groups. The Maritime Aquarium likely has records of how many groups come in each month by bus, and thus can estimate how many passes it would need, and based on that number, the Parking Authority Parks and Rec could determine whether it would offer these passes at full price, discounted or free.

UPDATE: I mistakenly said it was the Parking Authority who started the $5 fee, it was Parks and Rec.

Tags: In the News · Norwalk

2 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: The Wheels on The Bus Go Round and Park”



  • 1 Arthur A. Santella // Jun 28, 2007 at 9:22 am

    The problem is parking at Veterans Park. This is not a commercial parking lot. The Maritime Center like most other tourist attractions in the United States should provide “on site” parking for its bus traffic. A city park is not the place for commercial parking of motor coaches. If you build an apartment on your home, the first thing that will be required is off street parking before you can get a zoning and building permit. Yet there is no such requirement for any of the re-development and tourist attractions that are planned for the future of Norwalk. I believe that there are deed restrictions on that park that do not allow it to be used as a commercial bus lot. This city had better start planning for a centrally located bus parking complex, and they had better start the search now, not when there are 500 buses clogging every street in Norwalk.

    The simple fact is;

    When Oyster Shell Park is open where are the Buses going to park?

    In fact when Reed Putnam is finished where are the buses going to park?

    Furthermore more when downtown Norwalk is re-developed where are the buses going to park?

    Will out of stater’s be able to identify where Norwalk is located on Interstate 95, without having to look at the exit signs, because of the 1 mile long backup of log jammed buses that goes from the center of town out onto the Thruway?

    Time is running out fast, for a serious solution to this problem.

  • 2 Christine Schmitt // Jun 28, 2007 at 10:04 am

    The bus parking problem that is facing Norwalk, is like a Cancer. You have been told it is there, and you know it’s there. At same time you try to tell yourself it is not really happening, and that if you don’t think about it, it will go away. The more you deny it, the worse it gets, and without proper treatment, it eventually consumes its host, and kills it.