There's no such thing as a free ride, and someday there may be no free parking, either.


A proposal under review by the Hyannis Access Study Task Force would end free overnight parking at the park-and-ride lot off Route 6 at Exit 6 in West Barnstable, while making paid spaces available for that purpose at the Hyannis Transportation Center.

Paul Nelson, park-and-ride coordinator for the state Office of Transportation Planning, said the priority for lots such as the one at Exit 6 is commuter parking. "That gets the most emissions off the road," he said, noting that daily commuters have the greatest impact on reducing congestion and air pollution.

Nelson told the task force, which met Tuesday at Yarmouth Town Hall much to the mock chagrin of former Barnstable DPW chief Tom Mullen, that this "short-term, low-cost" alternative headed a list of options for reducing crowding at the Route 6 lot.

Other options include building additional spaces at the West Barnstable location and marking some specifically for overnight parking, opening a new park-and-ride lot somewhere in the area, and building a parking garage at Exit 6.

The task force heard another report, this one by Rob Swierk of TranSystems on potential transit improvement alternatives in the study area. An idea for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Route 132 between the Cape Cod Mall and Capetown Plaza drew a lot of comments, most of them critical, but that proposal was hardly the crux of Swierk's report.

The consultant focused on simpler, short-term changes such as rerouting the Villager bus service between the transportation center and Barnstable Village to shave off a few minutes spent winding through the Cape Cod Mall's parking lot.

Residents of the Bearse's Way neighborhood behind the mall might be happy to learn of talk about upgrading the intersection of that street and Route 28, with sidewalks and a possible bus shelter in the mix.

Discussion of possible changes to the vexed airport rotary was held over until next month's meeting.

The task force is examining all the options for improving access to Hyannis, including the idea that prompted its formation: an Exit 6 1/2 from Route 6, probably through Independence Park.