Parking permits for reserved spaces at the Mercer Island Park-and-Ride were still available as of Dec. 16.

Sound Transit (ST) began selling passes Dec. 2 for commuters to have a spot reserved in the lot until 9 a.m. on weekdays starting Jan. 2. Pass holders must use transit and sign up online using their transit rider accounts.

Since the Park-and-Ride’s 447 stalls typically fill up each weekday before 7 a.m., commuters often face uncertainty and can’t be sure they’ll get a spot — especially if they can’t make it to the lot before 7 a.m. for any reason. Therefore, a high demand was anticipated for the passes that could offer folks more certainty.

ST will only sell permits reserving up to half of the spots in the parking lot — that’s 224 spaces.

Rachelle Cunningham, public information officer for ST, provided data on the sales as of Dec. 16. In total, there had been 93 applications for parking reservation permits of all types. That’s about 40 percent of capacity.

Of those, 76 were of the 98040 zip code (Mercer Island) — about 81 percent of total applications. Of that 76, 50 were approved single occupant vehicle (SOV) permits, seven were pending SOV permits, seven were approved carpool permits, and 12 were pending carpool permits.

The reserved parking passes for carpool vehicles are free. The standard rate per month for an SOV permit is $120. Adjusted rates are available for ORCA Lift members.

All passes renew each month and each person must use transit at least 12 days per month.

The Mercer Island Park-and-Ride is identified as one of ST’s 14 busiest lots.

To learn more or to apply for a permit for a reserved parking stall, go online to www.soundtransit.org/permitparking.