Dictionary definition of “kiss and ride”

kiss and ride

n. a passenger drop-off area near a rapid transit station; the act of using such an area as intended. Also as verb phrase. Subjects: English, Automobiles & Transportation, Colloquial

Editorial Note: Often attributive. Etymological Note: From the 1950s-era urban planning vision of wives dropping off their husbands at train or bus stations each workday morning.

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Citations: 1956 Los Angeles Times (Jan. 20) “Transit Plan Agreement Smoked Out” p. 4: I believe we are going to have co-ordination between automobiles and rapid transit.…It will be park and ride or kiss and ride—where the wife takes the husband to the rapid transit line and kisses him good-by. 1958 Thomas Buck Chicago Daily Tribune (May 25) “The Commuter of The Future” p. G26: At the terminal building, the wife and husband pull into a special place to park long enough to discuss last minute family matters…and for that parting kiss! This husbad is the “Kiss-and_Ride” passenger in the local transportation plan for the Chicago area of the future. 1973 James Kilpatrick Modesto Bee And News-Herald (California) (Mar. 11) “Public Transit Stars in Success Story” p. C3: It has created “park and ride” terminals, where passengers may leave their cars in the morning. It has promoted “kiss and ride” points, where wives are urged to deposit their husbands for the daily trip into town by bus. 1999 Alice Reid Washington Post (Apr. 2) “At Metro Parking Lots, Car Wars”: Thirty years ago, the region was pretty much contained inside the Capital Beltway, and planners thought commuters would be mostly guys, who would ride the bus to Metro stations or be delivered by spouses to “Kiss and Ride” lots. 2002 Scoop (New Zealand) (Dec. 18) “IA Offers Further $6.4 million for Auckland Rail”: Access facilities will be significantly improved by Park and Ride facilities, Kiss and Ride facilities, bicycle storage and disabled access. New amenities will include bus and train information, public address systems, locality maps, landscaping and fencing. 2003 Great Neck Record (Mineola, New York) (Nov. 7 ) “Plaza Roundabout”: We suggest that people who need to drop off or pick up someone using the railroad station do so inside the train station area on North Station Plaza, or queue in the commuter parking lots around the station designed to accommodate commuter activity. The roundabout or its approaching intersections are not the appropriate locations to attempt “kiss and ride.” 2007 Tom Gruber Cohasset Mariner (Massachusetts) (May 31) “Downtown station not likely”: Since the village area has precious few parking resources, the idea was floated for the MBTA to build a station in the downtown area without parking, or a what is sometimes called a “kiss and ride” station.

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