To the Editor:

Regarding last Monday’s meeting about parking on the “tree streets” — as a resident of Chestnut Street (who often finds cars blocking his driveway!) I regret not being able to attend the discussion where I would have put in my “two cents worth.”

I have never been able to understand why a very simple plan hasn’t been implemented that would be a quadruple win…a dedicated, frequent, and direct shuttle bus between the shopping center on Harrison Street and Palmer Square, with perhaps one or two or maybe even zero stops along the way.

As a frequent visitor to Hilton Head, South Carolina, I partake of a shuttle that takes visitors, residents and tourists between an off-site parking lot and one of America’s most visited shopping, golf, tennis, and dining neighborhoods — Harbortown — where parking and traffic had become a nightmare.

In the case of Princeton, such a shuttle would benefit downtown merchants, shopping center merchants, visitors/tourists, and “tree street” residents. Hence, the quadruple win!!!! In addition, University students, staff, and faculty would be able to easily shop and dine at the shopping center, which any casual observer would concede has lots of unrented storefronts (so make that a quintuple win).

At a time when more communities (even New York City) are looking for ways to reduce vehicular traffic and the not-too-far-in-the-distant-future likelihood of autonomous driverless cars, Princeton needs to look for forward looking solutions rather than adding more-of-the-same lines of parking spaces and those hated meters.

Les Seifer
Chestnut Street