<p>My DD is a student at a college in urban Philadelphia. She has a car at home but did not take it to school this year because finding parking in the city is either expensive or impossible.</p>
<p>I had thought that perhaps it would be better to find a place in suburban Philadelphia where she could take the bus or train and then get to her car as she needed it to go back and forth to home for visits. This would actually be more economical than the choices we currently have to get her back and forth (us making the 5.5 hour drive each way, Amtrak, flying ($$$), or Greyhound (no direct Megabus to points near us). Also, since she is spending the summer in Philly in her first apartment it would also be nice for her to have her car available to drive to the Jersey shore or Hershey Park with her friends once in awhile.</p>
<p>However, I am having a tough time locating reasonable parking, near Public transportation, in a decent area. I am so unfamiliar with Philly itself that I am not sure where to start really looking. </p>
<p>I am hoping someone on this board can offer a suggestion or two.</p>
<p>I looked into that, too, and even have friends and family who offered driveways. There were no good solutions that I found. My son (Penn grad now working and living in Center City) keeps his car on the street at Penn and takes the train over to pick it up. It’s survived so far! Not a great solution, but the price is right.</p>
<p>Thanks MomofWildChild. My DD’s apartment and school are both in Center City. Your son does not have to worry about being ticketed or does he have a Philly residents permit?</p>
<p>I have found a few storage facilities in the West Philly area. The bus that stops in front of DD’s apartment goes right over there but again I am not sure of the neighborhood. </p>
<p>To add insult to injury there is a nice parking lot right next her apartment lol. Unfortunately it is neither public nor paid (not that I would want to pay Philly prices for parking).</p>
<p>We know several 20 somethings who live in Center City. They do not own cars. Too costly. One thought of looking for a suburban parking place but realized that would negate the “convenience factor” of having a car.</p>
<p>thumper1: For us, the freedom to drive home when she wants and the cost factor of taking the train or flying is a huge trade off. Amtrak fares fluctuate wildly (we do have the Student Advantage membership but often the availability of her work schedule precludes us from purchasing 3 days in advance) but taking Amtrak round trip runs anywhere from $180 - $320 depending on the time and Greyhound actually runs even more expensive. Flying is in the plus $300 range and requires an hour and a half trip to the airport each way for me to pick her up and drop her off. So basically one round trip on Amtrak or Greyhound can equal 6 months of storage facility or parking rental outside of the city. She doesn’t need or want a car in the city, only for trips home and occasional day trips outside of the city (she is a country girl who enjoys nature).</p>
<p>I grew up in far NE Philadelphia. The great part is that you can take Septa pretty much anywhere. The train runs right into the far NE/Andalusia/Bensalem, as does the bus. There are storage facilities on Knights Rd, Academy and Woodhaven all major Septa routes. From center city it would be the El and one bus. It is a bit further away but safe neighborhoods. To be honest, if she was going to use her car to shop etc and check up on it weekly, It would probably be safe parked along any of the streets in this area and go fairly unnoticed. As for W. Philly I wouldn’t park anything there and expect it to be there later :).</p>
<p>My D lives in South Philly and parks on the street. She doesn’t have a resident sticker. It’s often hard for her to find a parking space–morning seems to be the best time. Once she finds a space she leaves her car and takes public transportation almost everywhere. I was worried about the area when she first moved there, but she’s been there for almost two years and her neighbors are long time residents who take their packages in for them and keep an eye out for trouble. Car hasn’t been vandalized–nothing stolen and she’s left stuff inside. It’s an old (2001) Mercedes station wagon (I gave her my old car.)</p>
<p>OP, please check with your insurance carrier before she takes a car and parks it in Philly. We looked into it when DS was in grad school (also in Center City) and the rates were crazy high. Should also consider liability in this litigious world—no experience with that really, but I’m told lawsuits are more common in cities than in the 'burbs. </p>
<p>As I understand it, if the car is registered in her name and her license reflects a Philly address, she can get a permit to park on the street. If she has your car, permit parking isn’t an option.</p>
<p>DS decided it was just too much hassle and used public transportation during his time there. Amtrack out of 30th Street Station was his preferred transportation to visit us. He LOVED Philly btw!</p>
<p>Panhandlegal, you make a good point about the insurance. We are in NYS and we have to have liability on her car as it is. </p>
<p>As for the Philly parking permit, I had seen that on another board but as she is NYS licensed it was said the city would not consider her a true resident for that purpose. Not sure if that was true or not but in any case she really has no need to have her car in the city anyway. It would just be a temptation to drive to places she could take the bus or train to. This is more of a convenience to be able to make the trips back and forth as well as to go on day trips once in awhile.</p>
<p>Have you looked into how much a Zipcar would be? I know lots of center city residents who use Zip cars or the like when they need to get somewhere. Might be cheaper than the monthly car storage fee</p>
<p>IDK on the Zipcar. I assume you have to be 25 like with other rental cars? My DD is only 18 and a Zipcar would be great for short trips but not for going back and forth to our home for a quick weekend here and there (she has short performance commitments at home during July and August, and the wedding of a former teacher) or for breaks.</p>
<p>I want to just reiterate that the main reason to keep her car down there is to have access to make the trip home (5.5 hours one way) at her convenience rather than having to take the 5 am train on a Saturday mornings because she has classes and works on Friday nights. She will not use the car for small errands or even use it weekly once school starts (or even before as she is pretty frugal anyway).</p>
<p>I wonder if anyone else has this problem with cars and their kids. My kids had summer jobs in there college towns and then had the car there for senior year of college. D lived in a city and had on street parking. It was an older import car while having higher miles ran pretty well</p>
<p>First, once she found a good parking spot she didn’t want to drive the car and lose said parking spot. She thought she wanted the car to go grocery shopping and regular shopping but she didn’t have much time so usually walked to the store or her boyfriend drove. Once the car wasn’t being driven it started having problems. Nothing big but new brakes and usual maintenance items. We had no contacts in the new city so it was a hassle to find a place to get it fixed. And she was super busy so she didn’t have time. This happened to both of my kids. My S had a dead battery since he didn’t drive it much and he was too busy and so finally I had it towed to replace the battery. It was a very expensive battery. Besides I was paying for insurance for a car that wasn’t being driven. It wasn’t convenient for anyone and a pain for me to deal with. I’m not even going to talk about the parking tickets. </p>
<p>The last straw for me was when the brake lights wouldn’t work and no one had time to replace the fuse or take it somewhere to be fixed. So it sat there until the battery was dead and the tire was flat.</p>
<p>I know I’m being a curmudgeon about the whole thing, but it would have been cheaper to use zip car (but the kids hated them because the cars were shrink wrapped and “embarrassing”). Having a car was good when they had a job and drove it everyday.</p>
<p>I live in the neighborhood and have no car.</p>
<p>I’d vote for Zip Car or Philly Car Share if she qualifies.</p>
<p>Otherwise, Alan Klein Apartments has indoor parking spaces at 47th and Pine for about $100/month. Call Marla to see what, if anything, is available.</p>
<p>My son doesn’t have a resident sticker, but he is just now licensing his car in PA. He may need to get one. He needs his car- not having a car is not an option. He has relatives out in the suburbs and goes to their Poconos house, too. He is a triathlete and needs to transport his bike to out of town races. He’s done OK with the Penn parking- he is on a well-lit block where there is also a security guard. So far, so good. I don’t like it, but it’s the best option for him.
My niece lives in South Philly (not all that far from my son) and parks on the street and also has had no problem. She reverse commutes to an engineer job in Manayunk.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to be 25 to join Zipcar, because many college campuses have it and many students, including undergrads who are generally under 25, use it. My D1’s campus has it and we’re encouraging her to join. She’s going to be a senior and she’d like to have a car but we did the math and it’s much cheaper for her to use Zipcar every now and then than to purchase, maintain, insure, and park a car of her own which would mostly sit idle during the school year. It’s almost an ideal solution for college students.</p>
<p>I know my DD’s campus is not affiliated with Zip Car because I did check once awhile ago. However, as I said, the main purpose is for going back and forth to home and for that Zip Car is not feasible.</p>
<p>deb922, my DH owns an autmobile repair shop so I am very familiar with the pitfalls of letting a car sit for too long. Unhooking the battery when storing for long periods will save it from discharging completely. Also, there are portable power packs (or AAA) if it goes dead while sitting and needs a jump. Brakes will eventually seize up as well (depending on how bad it is they will loosen up after driving a short distance and clearing out some of the accumulated rust) and gaskets can dry out (synthetic oil helps to prevent that to some extent) All of that is going to happen whether her car sits idle at home or at school. </p>
<p>My DD pays her own insurance and will not be without her car when she is home visiting so insurance and registration will be carried year round no matter what (and they give no discount for her being away from the car for most of the year even if she can prove she is at school). </p>
<p>Her car is nothing exciting either (VW Beetle) but she loves to drive and long trips home from PA will probably be better for the car than the short trips she takes while at home.</p>
<p>I would be concerned if I was parking on a Phila street and not wandering past my car everyday.</p>
<p>Phila has a habit of closing streets or closing half a street to parking for many reasons. Snow removal, street cleaning, parades, movie sets etc. If you don’t move your car in time they tow it. Then you have to find it.</p>
<p>Sometimes they just tow it to another street and leave it there. Other times they tow it to an impound lot which charges daily insane rates.</p>
<p>Google anything Phila… parking… and problems.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>I would look into renting a garage or a space.</p>