Every day, he keeps track of parking at RR stations

Each day, commuters and other rail travelers move in and out of approximately 1,700 parking spaces at Westport's two Metro-North train stations -- and Officer Mark Pocius monitors every one of those spots.

As the patrol officer in the Police Department's Railroad Parking Division, Pocius rides through the 11 lots at the two stations to ensure that vehicles are properly parked in either spaces reserved for permit-holders or in "temporary" spots for travelers without permits.

He also manages railroad parking security and would respond, for instance, to any vehicle break-in or mugging in the lots.

Pocius, a 36-year veteran of the Westport Police Department, works in a three-person railroad parking rotation. Another officer handles administrative work at police headquarters, while a traffic agent issues daily parking fee tickets.

While Pocius' work involves writing tickets for vehicles not stationed in permit spaces, he says he views himself not as an authoritarian enforcer of regulations, but as a more welcoming figure.

"I want to help," he said. "I'd rather help people than give out a ticket."

On Wednesday, as he circled through the Saugatuck and Green's Farms station lots, Pocius encountered several Metro-North regulars who smiled and waved to him as they walked from their cars to the station.

Pocius' friendly rapport with commuters belies the challenge of overseeing parking at a station that the South Western Regional Planning Agency describes in a new study as one of the most-used in the region.

To facilitate more parking availability at the local station lots, Pocius will often open permit spaces for "temporary" or daily parking use, if vacant permit spots in a particular lot remain after a certain hour.

On Wednesday morning, he stuck a sign that read "all spaces after 10 a.m." to another parking placard in Lot 8, adjacent to Interstate 95, indicating that permit spaces there would be available to all vehicles that day.

Responding to some commuters' complaints about the variability of temporary parking, Pocius emphasized that the allotment for daily spaces depends on permit space availability.

"People have to understand that temporary parking is exactly what it says," he said. "It's subject to change. When there are ample parking (vacancies), we can have temporary parking to accommodate the people who don't have permits."

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are generally the busiest days at the lots, Pocius said.

Fewer commuters use railroad parking Mondays, while he described Fridays as "dead," when parking is least used at the lot.

He concurs, however, with commuters who bemoan a lack of spaces at the stations during the middle of the week.

"They're right," he said. "There isn't enough parking here."

Amid the increasing competition for parking spaces, some rail travelers have resorted to more brazen methods of securing a spot. A Weston man was charged last October with second-degree forgery after counterfeit parking permit stickers were found on his vehicle, police said.

On Tuesday, Pocius cited a rail traveler for using a handicap permit to park in a handicap spot when there were no disabled passengers in his vehicle.

After another tour through the lots, Pocius stopped at Railroad Place next to the New York-bound platform and watched as another cluster of commuters bounded the platform stairs for the next train to Grand Central Terminal. After about 18 months in the Railroad Parking Division, he said he hoped to continue in his current position.

"I like what I do," he said. "I like the challenge of getting the people into the parking lots and making this whole thing work."