Phil Lamb of Laurel took one look at the cars parked along Main Street in historic Ellicott City on Saturday and knew he'd made the right decision.
Instead of fighting for a parking place, he and a group of Tiger Cubs, assorted siblings and parents parked their 12 cars at the Howard County Office Complex and took a free shuttle van into town, a pilot service available for the last time this weekend.
"Parking would have been impossible down here," said Mr. Lamb, gazing at vehicles waiting at traffic lights and jammed along the town's narrow streets.
The four-week shuttle service began the weekend after Thanksgiving, part of an effort to find ways around historic Ellicott City's chronic parking shortage, which gets worse during the holiday season.
Currently, parking spaces are hard to find near the Patapsco River and along Main Street during weekends and between noon and 5 p.m. on weekdays, said Marsha McLaughlin, deputy director of planning and zoning.
A study being done by FeinDesign Associates Inc., a Frederick-based design and planning firm, has found that the number of available parking spaces in the area could be more than doubled to 1,300 by using lots on the outskirts of town.
To test that estimate, the merchants and county officials who funded the study decided to offer a shuttle service between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the parking crunch is at its worst. The shuttle makes a mile-long loop between the Howard County Office Complex and a parking lot on nearby Oella Avenue in Baltimore County.
"It's the busiest shopping season of the year," said Ed Williams, director of the Ellicott City B&O; Railroad Station Museum. "If we get some good numbers, it'll be a direction we'll go in."
The Urban Rural Transportation Alliance of Howard County Inc., which serves disabled, low-income and elderly county residents, provided the van being used in the pilot program, under a $1,000 contract with the county government.
Sponsors have advertised the service on television, radio and in local newspapers. Red and white signs, reading "Weekend Shuttle Stop," are posted along Main Street, Oella Avenue and Ellicott Mills Drive. Merchants also are telling their customers about the shuttle.
Shoppers appear to have welcomed the service. During the first weekend, the shuttle provided about 60 rides. And during the first hour of its operation Saturday, 39 people took the van, including 37 from the Tiger Cub group.
"We're delighted with the enormous response to this," said Alan Feinberg, president of FeinDesign Associates.
But merchants say that four weeks is too brief a period for shoppers to become acquainted with the pilot service.
"It takes a few months for it to take off," said Leslie Meilman, president of the Ellicott City Business Association. "We're hoping people do use it."
On Saturday, shuttle driver Ynetha Plummer leaned out her window from time to time to tell pedestrians along Main Street that they could have ridden to their destinations instead of walking.
"You should have have taken the shuttle for free," she told one woman and child walking toward the Oella parking lot.
Two riders who chanced upon the van were Catonsville resident Keith Ogden and his 5-year-old son, Sam. They were headed for the B&O; Railroad Station Museum to see a train exhibit.
"Fantastic," Mr. Ogden said, as he and Sam climbed aboard the shuttle at the Oella parking lot. "We were digging around for our umbrella."
Leaders of the Tiger Cub Scout Pack said they were glad they used the service.
"It's a lot more convenient than parking in Ellicott City," said Tiger Cub organizer Kim Passmore. "The museum staff told us parking would be horrendous."
This weekend, the shuttle will operate from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from noon until 4 p.m. Sunday.