If you’re hoping to drive to Brooklyn Nets basketball games at their planned new arena, don’t expect a slam-dunk parking spot – unless you’re willing to shell out big bucks.
Developer Bruce Ratner has devised a 15-point plan for dealing with the potential traffic nightmares his proposed six-block, $4.2 billion arena/apartment high-rise/office complex could mean for the surrounding neighborhoods.
A copy of the plan obtained by The Post shows the Nets owner wants to spring for free subway service for ticket holders – possibly by applying MetroCard technology to the actual tickets – while making it less convenient for those seeking to drive.
Only 1,100 of the 3,800 parking spots at the Atlantic Yards complex are set aside for the 18,000-seat arena where Ratner hopes to move his New Jersey basketball team in 2009. And on-site arena parking would be offered in two high-occupancy vehicle and VIP lots – limited to vehicles with three or more people as well as drivers who purchase pricey, luxury seating.
As The Post reported in December, Ratner wants to work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to have arena tickets embedded with MetroCard stripes, so they could be swiped for free access to subways or commuter rail lines.
“The MTA is very open to innovations like this, and if there’s a way of doing it, we’d love to,” project manager Jim Stuckey said. “Otherwise we’ll just distribute the MetroCards.”
Both sides say the MetroCard plans are under consideration, and MTA officials confirmed that similar ideas were suggested for Jets season ticket holders before that team scrapped its plan to move to Manhattan last year.
Stuckey said the goal for providing free subway service is reducing game-time traffic by at least 500 cars, adding that alone could cost Ratner at least $400,000 a year.
He said it is too early to know how much on-site arena parking would cost, but Stuckey conceded it won’t be cheap because the development team is doing “everything it can to encourage people to use mass transit.”
He said off-site parking at Ratner’s nearby Metrotech office complex in Downtown Brooklyn – and various other remote locations – would also be offered at a discounted price with free shuttle-bus service to the arena.
Similar arrangements are also expected through cross-marketing with merchants and restaurants.
Other highlights of Ratner’s 15-point plan include increasing subway service in Downtown Brooklyn during evenings and weekends, building an enclosed 400-spot bicycle station at the arena with lockers and reconfiguring roads and pedestrian crosswalks.
Brian Ketcham, an urban-planning consultant who studied the plan, said the steps might help mitigate traffic congestion but won’t solve it.
“The area is already gridlocked without Ratner,” he said.
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Let it ride
Developer Bruce Ratner’s plans to deal with traffic:
1. Free rides: Net tickets that work like MetroCards
2. More rides: Additional subway service nights and weekends
3. HOV/VIP parking: Spaces only for vehicles with at least three people – or for fans with luxury seats
4. Remote parking: Far from arena at discounted prices, with free shuttle
5. Bike parking: 400-spot enclosed bike station at the arena
Atlantic Yards: By the numbers
Cost: $4.2 billion
Buildings: 16 skyscrapers, arena
Total acreage: 22
Residential: 5,790 to 6,860 apartments
Office: 606,000 sq. ft.
Hotel: 180 rooms
Retail: 247,000 sq.ft.
Arena: 18,000 seats
Arena use: 41 Net games, 180 other events a year