Dealing with parking woes at San Jose International Airport

Q I have been happily driving from Fresno to fly out of San Jose International Airport for over seven years. If you love Alaska Airlines like I do, it makes more sense than the terrible connection options we get out of Fresno. Plus, SJC is a fantastic airport in terms of design, technology, cleanliness, lack of crowds, among other things.

Depending on the length of my trip, I either use Lots 2/3 (because Economy Lot 1 always seems to be full when I arrive), or for longer trips, the former FlyNSave that was on Fourth Street, which then moved to Coleman Avenue. Unfortunately, it appears they have closed their SJC lots and now only serve the Oakland airport.

It seems like the recent development around the airport has squeezed out off-site parking operations and a shortage is close at hand. I understand the desire of city planners to get all travelers on mass transit, but does this mean that travelers from outside the Bay Area, like me, are no longer welcome?

— Annette Bauer, Fresno

A

It can’t be that bad, can it?

Q

On a recent Saturday, all public parking lots at SJC were full and closed to new customers by 10:52 a.m.

If you’re headed to the airport, please consider alternative forms of transit. SJC has been lean on parking spots ever since opening the new parking structure and moving rental cars into it. At the same time, SJC had closed the west side long-term parking near Brokaw Road. When will this be corrected?

— Conrad Schapira,

San Jose

A

It is that bad. But changes are coming. SJC is adding a minimum of 900 parking spaces to Economy Lot 1, also known as “longterm” parking. The lot reached 100% capacity 36 times this year over one three-month period.

SJC has been one of the fastest-growing airports in the U.S. over the past four years. Passenger

growth at SJC has been 9.4% year-over-year for the past year, and passenger traffic is forecast to continue to break records, with more than 15 million passengers expected to be served by the end of 2019, compared with 14.3 million in 2018.

Parking construction will begin after Thanksgiving and is estimated to be completed by early 2021.

During construction, approximately 770 spaces in Economy Lot 1 will be unavailable for parking.

To offset this temporary loss, the airport will provide an additional 900 parking spaces in the Lot 2/Terminal A Garage starting Nov. 20, when SJC partners’ employee parking will be relocated to the airport’s west side parking lot.

For real-time SJC parking status, go to www.flysanjose.com/ parking. Parking information is also available by calling 408-441-5570 anytime, any day.