Darien - Along Connecticut's Gold Coast, one commodity is so cherished that residents often have to wait years to get it no matter their means: a parking permit at the train station.

Rumors of black market trades of permits swirl in one town. Some commuters, called squatters, keep the permits even when they're not using them much anymore.

More than $1 billion has been spent on a new fleet of more than 400 train cars for Metro-North's New Haven line, but the perennial parking shortage remains a challenge on one of the nation's busiest commuter rail lines. Commuters have to wait four to six years to get a parking permit at some stations, said Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council.

"If we are going to get people out of their cars and using mass transit, we have to make it as convenient as possible," Cameron said. "The last piece of the puzzle is: How do we get people to the train station?"

The parking shortage has persisted as ridership has steadily increased and towns struggle to expand spaces in quaint villages built long ago. Multilevel parking garages are unpopular and real estate is pricey.

When Kevin Fullington moved from New York City to Darien three years ago, he quickly went to town hall to apply for a permit. The 38-year-old attorney was told to expect to wait six years or more.

"I've kind of written it off as a lost cause, lucky to get it at some point and not holding my breath," Fullington said.

Fullington said he gets parking through a voucher system that costs $3 per day, about double the $345 annual cost if he had a permit, and has to walk up to half a mile to the station. On rainy days, cars driving by splash him as he walks on the road with no sidewalk.

"The parking situation is just one more little annoying nuisance to add to the list of sacrifices you have to make for your family when you move to the suburbs," Fullington said.

Towns such as Darien need to attract young professionals to thrive, Fullington said.

"The vitality of these towns is tied inextricably to people working in New York City," Fullington said. "These towns would not thrive as they're doing without the New York City commuter."

The wait in Darien is about seven years, said town administrator Karl Kilduff. He said the town has no plans to expand parking but is implementing license plate reader technology to curb abuses.

"There are rumors of black market trades going on with permits," Kilduff said. "We hear it as allegations with some degree of frequency and we're moving forward with technology hopefully that will be able to squeeze out some of that system abuse if it's taking place."

State transportation officials say they are making progress with parking by opening a new train station in Fairfield last year and a new station in West Haven next year. Parking has been added in Bridgeport and there are plans for more parking in Stamford and Stratford and a plan to study parking in Westport, DOT officials said.

Officials say they added bicycle racks at stations and have been purging waiting lists of commuters who are no longer interested in a permit.

"We've done a lot," said Gene Colonese, rail administrator for DOT. "I think we've improved it."

In Westport, commuters wait four to five years for a parking permit, said First Selectman Gordon Joseloff. He said the town has bus service to its two train stations and is trying to increase ridership.

"Land is valuable, and there's not much appetite at the moment for creating a double-decker or higher parking garage in Westport," Joseloff said.

Not every train station has a long wait. The Rowayton station has a wait of a year or less, officials said.

The DOT should expand parking by working with towns to come up with attractive, multi-use structures that could include parking and stores, Cameron said. But decked parking has proven controversial in the past in towns such as Darien, which rejected a proposed garage nearly a decade ago.

DOT officials said they are trying to encourage transit-oriented development so commuters can walk to the train. In Stamford, the state is seeking bids to develop an area around the train station and create more parking.

That proposal has Cameron worried that parking will be moved further from the train station to make room for development.

Cameron acknowledged some parking has been added, but said not enough has been done to alleviate the shortage after years of studies.

"If I had a dime for every task force that's been created to look at this issue, many of which I have served on, I could retire today," Cameron said. "This issue has been over-studied in the extreme, and nobody has the guts to do anything about it."

Some towns such as Greenwich and Darien are raising their parking permit fees to encourage the so-called squatters to turn in their permits.

In Stratford, the waiting list of 770 is roughly double the number of parking spaces, said Rickey Williams, executive assistant to Mayor John Harkins. The next person in line to get a parking permit has been on the list since 2007, he said.

That wait worries Jen Stanley, a 34-year-old administrative assistant who recently moved to Stratford. She said a co-worker has been waiting four years for a parking permit, so she will likely drive to see if she can handle the severe traffic heading into Stamford.

"I'm definitely stressed out about it," Stanley said.