Evening public transportation is lacking

Mayor Mike McGinn and the City Council support imposing downtown parking fees after 6 p.m. using “market-driven parking rates as a way to reduce congestion and better reflect the true costs to the environment of driving cars.” [“City blinks on parking — in one part of town, at least,” page one, Feb. 14.]

I fully support the idea of making drivers bear the true costs to the environment of driving cars, but the mayor’s and City Council’s argument fails to recognize that after 6 p.m., mass-transit service to downtown Seattle is reduced, making it harder for people to take mass transit to go to a restaurant. If we were talking about a city that offered frequent and extensive mass transit late into the evening, then the argument would hold water. But that is not the state of Seattle’s mass transit.

Therefore, in fairness to restaurant owners, and the citizens of Seattle, the city should not impose parking fees after 6 p.m.

--David von Wolffersdorff, Seattle