All EV charging stations occupied in MTA garage at North White Plains train station.

Yesterday's post stated that 5 of 8 EV (electric vehicle) charging stations were occupied in parking spaces provided by the City of White Plains near the White Plains train station in the adjacent Fire Station parking area. Lack of signs and an absurd location were mentioned as possible explanations for the empty spaces. Today at about 10:45 AM only 4 of 8 had EV charging there. Maybe people are still away on summer vacation. Except, ...

Photos below are for the year old Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) five story parking garage on the east side of the train tracks at the North White Plains train station.

Westchester County has surface parking at that train station but apparently does not provide any EV charging stations. Nor does the county have them in the County Center parking lot near the White Plains train station.

I did not notice any EV sign outside the MTA garage but there was one inside the main entrance.

Level 2: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Those EV charging stations are clearly visible as soon as you exit the elevator on Level 2.

Striped no parking areas on both ends.

All seven EV charging stations were occupied at about 10:00 AM today. The Toyota Rav 4 on the right is not an EV and that's probably why it was booted.

Obviously, the signs are clear. And while only half the City of White Plains EV spaces were charging today, those in the MTA garage, one Metro North train stop away, were all full (one against the charging rules).

So, there seem to be EV owners who want to charge their EV at the train stations. And there are people living in downtown White Plains apartments who need EV charging stations at their apartment buildings. More on that in subsequent posts.

5 of 8 "secret" train station EV charging spaces occupied today.

BACK parking lot of the fire station 10:30 AM Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Secret location of eight EV charging spaces in surface lot north of (train station) TransCenter Garage. Monday, August 27, 2018

Photos in this post were taken about 6PM Sunday August 26, 2018, which may account for there being no cars parked in the EV charging station spaces but not for the absurd location of these spaces. They are not in a public surface parking lot like that south of the "TransCenter Garage". No, the EV spaces are in the BACK parking lot of the fire station. There are no signs directing you to this area.

All this suggests a lack of serious purpose by the City of White Plains...
_________________________

Comment from a Common Council member Aug 27, 2018, 8:46 PM:

Please go back and take a picture of the same area any week day. You will find virtually every space taken so this secret is not such a big one! 6 PM on a Sunday for a picture there? Really?

My reply:

Read my first sentence.

If there's a sign pointing to any of the 20 EV spaces, send a photo.
_________________________

Today, Tuesday, August 28, 2018 I observed train station EV charging spaces occupied:

9:00 AM  two of the eight
10:30 AM  five of the eight

Two may have been going to work. The other three, ...?

Obviously, the location is not a complete secret. Just as obviously, complete secrecy was not the original point.

At about 10:25 walking through the County Center parking lot, which was not full, I observed among cars parked along the side of the train tracks these electric vehicles (EV) that could that could be charged:
- two Teslas
- Chevy Bolt.

There's no way to know if the drivers are aware of the EV charging stations just on the other side of the tracks. Data from the Parking Department would be the best way to judge how well and diversely the spaces are used.

Common sense dictates that the lack of directional signage and the differing instructions for the 20 city wide EV charging stations should be of concern.

Here's the main page for metered parking in White Plains:

http://whiteplainsny.gov/index.aspx?nid=332

The Galleria parking garage is referred to as:
Lexington-Grove East
Lexington-Grove West.

Grove Street was renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd in the previous millennium. Grove Street no longer exists.

Each of those two sections of the Galleria parking garage have EV charging stations as mentioned in:

Electric cars, i.e., Electric Vehicles (EV): can they be charged in White Plains? Friday, August 24, 2018

Secret location of eight EV charging spaces in surface lot north of (train station) TransCenter Garage.

Photos in this post were taken about 6PM Sunday August 26, 2018, which may account for there being no cars parked in the EV charging station spaces but not for the absurd location of these spaces. They are not in a public surface parking lot like that south of the "TransCenter Garage". No, the EV spaces are in the BACK parking lot of the fire station. There are no signs directing you to this area.

All this suggests a lack of serious purpose by the City of White Plains.

Street view. EV spaces up and behind truck.

More photos below.

Electric cars, i.e., Electric Vehicles (EV): can they be charged in White Plains? Friday, August 24, 2018

http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/index.aspx?nid=368

Electric Vehicle Charging
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in White Plains

The City of White Plains currently offers twenty publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in parking structures and lots throughout the City.

Eight EV charging spaces are located in the surface lot adjacent to the White Plains TransCenter Garage on the North side. Four of those are Level 2 charging stations and four are Level 1 charging stations. Monthly permits are available for $129.00. This fee guarantees a spot and includes parking and electricity...
______________________________

My comments in my previous post:

... Galleria (Lexington-Grove) parking garage ...

1. no signs directing you to the location of the EV charging stations
2. different types of EV charging stations at each of the two locations tried
3. 60% of the EV charging stations found were not operational

I may try this at one or two more city public parking areas. Will the result be better? Does anyone in city government care? Do the car companies selling EVs care? Or is all this just another feel good exercise, a Kabuki dance?
_____________________________

Yeah, there are signs but only near the spaces. There are no signs indicating that any such EV spaces exist, much less where they are. Plus, the signs are confusing and there are three different types of signs and seeming procedures here and at the two Galleria garage locations. It is reminiscent of the early days of pumping your own gas with different interfaces and payment methods.

Electric cars, i.e., Electric Vehicles (EV): can they be charged in White Plains?

I'm considering getting an EV. I have not had a car this year (2018) after decades of having a car. Living in downtown enables being car free.

Of course, if you live in a house and have a private garage, you can charge your EV easily enough. You would know the procedure and have working equipment. But if you live in an apartment building, you need to convince the building management, either a rental company or a condo/co-op board, to install charging equipment.

As a supplement to charging at home, you would also want the option of charging your EV batteries elsewhere. Where? How about one of the MANY huge public garages that constitute the architectural definition of downtown White Plains?

The City of White Plains has that, sort of.

http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/index.aspx?nid=368

Electric Vehicle Charging
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in White Plains

The City of White Plains currently offers twenty publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in parking structures and lots throughout the City.

Eight EV charging spaces are located in the surface lot adjacent to the White Plains TransCenter Garage on the North side. Four of those are Level 2 charging stations and four are Level 1 charging stations. Monthly permits are available for $129.00. This fee guarantees a spot and includes parking and electricity.

Twelve additional EV charging spaces are now open and available for use. They are located in the following public parking garages:

Lexington-Grove East Garage (100 Main St.) - 3 chargers
Lexington-Grove West Garage (100 Main St.)-2 Chargers
Hamilton-Main Garage (365 Hamilton Ave.) - 3 chargers
Longview-Cromwell Garage (11 Longview Ave.) - 2 chargers
Lyon Place Garage (1 Lyon Place) - 2 chargers

To utilize one of the above charging stations, customers should download the free 'EV Connect' app. This will activate the charging station and allow the customer to monitor the charging process remotely. Once the app has been activated, the customer pays $1.50/hour, which covers both parking and electricity, through the normal payment process at the garage pay stations.

For more information, please call: (914) 422-1232.
____________________________

Wow, that seems pretty comprehensive. I installed the 'EV Connect' app mentioned onto my Android phone. Yesterday about 5:30 PM I went to the Galleria (Lexington-Grove) parking garage in search of the five EV charging stations that constitute 25% of those in city public parking spaces and 42% of the EV charging stations in the public garages.

I entered the Galleria garage on foot (remember, I don't have any car, much less an EV) from Martine Avenue near South Lexington. I did not find any signs directing one to an EV charging station. I continued into the Galleria food court and asked a guard. He had no idea. I left and walked up Main Street and noticed an office inside the "east" Galleria garage. I walked down in there and entered the office. The person behind the desk had no idea but called someone, who was then put on a speaker phone so that I could ask questions. I got enough information to find the two Galleria (Lexington-Grove) locations.

One is in the middle of that creepy underpass that divides the Galleria, you know, the one where almost no one walks. I went inside on the "east" side and finally found three EV charging stations adjacent to the sidewalk, down a few steps from the sidewalk. No signs anywhere to indicate their location.

The instructions on each were in font size of about five and it was dark. I opened the 'EV Connect' app on my phone and tried to engage each EV charging station in turn. I have not put credit card information into the app, so I don't know why the programmer who wrote it did not check for that right away. I stumbled through trying to get the app to find the stations, including loading an ID. I used the parking space number but apparently that was not it. Finally I realized that all three EV charging stations were "unavailable", i.e., not operational.

I walked across the street and entered the "west" part of the Galleria garage from Martine Avenue. I had been told that those EV charging stations were on level three, which in White Plans parlance was street level. I found them in about a minute along an inside barrier on a slant. These two EV charging stations were illuminated and had EV Connect written on them, which the other three did not.

I fired up the EV Connect app again and it appeared to find them. I also located, in small print, the ID and entered it. The app warned me that it was going to start charging both my EV and my credit card even though it did not have any information on either. I waited about a minute for it to fail and give me an error message but it's state did not change and I closed the app.

So:
1. no signs directing you to the location of the EV charging stations
2. different types of EV charging stations at each of the two locations tried
3. 60% of the EV charging stations found were not operational

I may try this at one or two more city public parking areas. Will the result be better? Does anyone in city government care? Do the car companies selling EVs care? Or is all this just another feel good exercise, a Kabuki dance?

Should I get an EV?

Common Council twice warned about dangerous bus traffic downtown. Maybe if they lived downtown ... Monday, September 25, 2017

Common Council, unprotected bike lanes on major streets are deadly.

from: Ken
to: City of White Plains <commoncouncil@whiteplainsny.gov>
date: Aug 12, 2018, 11:12 PM
subject: NYTimes: Australian Tourist’s Death Renews Cyclist Calls for Safer Lanes

Australian Tourist’s Death Renews Cyclist Calls for Safer Lanes https://nyti.ms/2P0T58t

“Every day in this city, bike lanes meant to protect people on bikes are used as drop-off lanes, parking lanes, and idling lanes for lazy and entitled drivers,” he said. “As a city we should be ashamed, because this death could have been prevented.”

As more people use bicycles to get around, Mr. White called for the city to install protected bike lanes on every major street. About 25 miles, or less than half, of the bike lanes installed last year under Mr. de Blasio have protective barriers.
__________________________________

From nytimes.com