Commuter parking permits will increase 10 percent at the Rye train station next year after the MTA’s recent blessing of the proposal.
The price hike will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, raising the cost to $1,105 for the annual permit. Besides the parking lot at the Metro-North station, resident-only, city-owned commuter lots on Highland Road and Cedar Street will also face the same increases.
The MTA approved the train station increase — the first since 2020 — last month.
Councilman Bill Henderson, a Republican, acknowledged the increase but felt the money was being well spent.
“It’s a significant increase, but all of the additional monies will go towards fixing the seemingly endless amount of potholes in the train station lot,” said Henderson. “It takes a lot of money to keep this parking lot in shape.”
Raising the permit costs was first floated by City Manager Greg Usry at a City Council meeting in June, where the council unanimously backed the proposal.
Usry conceded a seemingly sudden 10 percent price hike isn’t ideal — but said a smaller, annual increase would have been impossible due to the length and frequency of the MTA review process.
Since the train station lot is jointly owned by the city and MTA, the agency must approve permit price changes, and is also entitled to 50 percent of the revenue collected.
Permit costs have jumped roughly 53 percent since 2011, when annual rates for the train station lot were $720. Since then the city has raised prices in 2014, 2019, and 2020.

Photo Alison Rodilosso
The train station lot generated $726,000 in revenue last year — split between the city and MTA. The lots on Highland and Cedar brought in $247,000.
The city was not able to provide revenue numbers for 2024.
The city intentionally oversells the spots. All 1,000 available parking permits for the three lots this year were sold — including 748 permits for the train station, which only holds 450 spaces. Plus, more than 400 people currently sit on a waiting list.
The goal is to still ensure that every permit holder is able to park when they need, according to Usry.
“We do sell more permits than spaces, but annually monitor lot usage to assure that permit holders have spots,” he said. “Given travel schedules, work from home, vacations, etc., the average permit holder does not use the lot every day.”
Despite a revenue-sharing agreement, Rye’s 1975 lease with the MTA dictates that the city shoulders the full burden of maintaining the train station lot.
And this has been a considerable undertaking over the last few years.
Plowing, salting and spot-repairing train station potholes cost the city an average of $50,000-70,000 every year, according to the city manager. But severe storms in recent years have driven that number up to as high as $100,000.
Between extreme weather, and regular wear and tear, train station lot milling, repaving, and resurfacing costs have reached $250,000 over the last 24 months.
Current permit holders can expect to receive a notice in the mail informing them of the price change and the upcoming renewal period.
This article was updated on Sept. 11 at 10:15 a.m.