Mayor Walsh announced today that the cost of parking at a meter in the Back Bay and the South Boston Waterfront will jump Jan. 3 in a program to see if raising prices can reduce congestion along local curbs.
In the Back Bay, the city will simply increase the cost of parking at a meter from the current $1.25 an hour to $3.75 an hour and see if that discourages people who might otherwise just try to park in the same space all day, in the year-long pilot.
But in the Seaport area, the city will use a dynamic pricing model - and sensors at individual meters - in which spaces in demand will see their prices gradually rise over several months, while spaces that nobody wants will see their hourly charges go down.
On January 3, 2017 all meters in the Seaport pilot area will be priced at $1.50 an hour and adjust by 50 cents every two months. Approximately 591 metered spots will be adjusted over 40 blocks. High demand blocks will increase by 50 cents, while lower occupied blocks decrease by 50 cents. The minimum price will be $1 per hour, and the maximum price will be $4 per hour. Price will vary by four time bands (weekdays 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.; 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.; 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. and all day Saturday). Prices will be posted on meters and available online.
City officials are hoping that by freeing up spaces, they'll reduce auto emissions - since people will spend less time driving around looking for a space - as well as reducing the crazy that comes in a densely packed city like Boston.
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Comments
Re: Well aware of all the parking options. Thank you.
By Angel
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 3:23pm
Mock me all you like. Fenway was an affordable and diverse neighborhood for years.
I'm assuming the OP was
By anon
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 12:14pm
I'm assuming the OP was referring to malls outside of the city where the parking is free.
Oh, no doubt, but the point holds
By adamg
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 12:33pm
Copley Place was built specifically as a mall for suburbanites who want to experience the thrills of the city without actually having to set foot in the city. Is it hurting because you have to pay to park there where you don't at Chestnut Hill?
Re: Copley Place
By Angel
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 3:19pm
Very familiar with Copley Place. Spent a lot of my youth there at Chili's, Haagen-Dazs, the record store (don't remember the name), news stand and absurdly designed movie theater.
I was a city kid, never had a car when I lived here. It was either my feet, my bike or the T, which was a lot more reliable in those days.
The proposed costs seem reasonable now, but there's no question it will climb. Of course, nothing is "free", but why nickel and dime us on this? How does this make Boston a "world-class city"? It just seems lame.
prices
By Saul
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 3:40pm
T fares have more than doubled in the past decade. How much have meter rates increased?
free parking
By Saul
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 3:17pm
Of course, there's no such thing as "free" parking.
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/parking-is-hell-a-...
You're paying for it, for the land on which it sits, for plow drivers to keep it clear in winter, whether or not there's a meter by the spot.
Very glad to see this. It
By cden4
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 3:09pm
Very glad to see this. It will be interesting to see how this affects parking occupancy, turnover, and traffic congestion. Newbury St is severely underpriced based on how many spaces are generally unoccupied and how much double parking there is, and I'm willing to bet that most of the traffic ON Newbury St is looking for a space.
Next, I'd like to see meters run on Sundays and later at night in areas of high demand. I'd also like to see the city experiment with eliminating time limits and ONLY using pricing to manage demand.
To those of you saying this is just a money grab, that's really not the case. It's about making parking work better and reducing congestion. In cities where they have already done this, the average meter price actually went DOWN, so it's very possible that Boston ends up making less money in the end.
I'd like to see the city
By anon
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 5:06pm
I'd like to see the city experiment with allowing nonresidents to pay to park in resident spaces, and/or park for an hour or two.
Meters later into the evening could make sense. The problems I have with local implementations so far are:
1) Also extending loading zone hours later into the evening, when the quick-turnover businesses they're in front of aren't open past 6 pm. If the point was to make more parking available in the evening, a No Parking zone which nobody can use for 2 extra hours is useless.
2) Not also moving the meter start time later in the morning, in places that are empty between 8 and 10 am
3) The time limit -- in the evening, there are more reasons why you'd spend more than 2 hours somewhere. (Which reminds me: the South Boston 2-hour visitor limit from 6 pm all the way to 10 am continues to boggle my mind with its stupidity.)
The logic of tripling parking
By anon
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 4:33pm
The logic of tripling parking meter rates escapes me... Walsh said now residents won't circle block after block looking for parking spaces because of the meter fee increase. That makes sense how? Let's get rid of parking meters in the residential sections of neighborhoods then, thus freeing up more badly residential spots for people who actually live here and pay taxes. In the Back Bay there are 7,000 residential stickers for less than 2,000 spots. Stop giving out residential stickers to temporary residents like students. Furthermore, students should not be allowed to obtain residential stickrers since they should be parking in school garages and living in dorms anyways, thus keeping skyrocketing apartment rents from going up further for people who work for a living.
It makes sense because every
By blues_lead
Fri, 12/02/2016 - 6:07pm
It makes sense because every person who decides to not park there because of the price opens up a space. Residential permits were never meant to be a guarantee.
All residents are temporary, and four years is a long time. And, what dorms? Where are all these empty beds? How many of these students even have cars?
How do I know if I'm a
By anon
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 12:28pm
How do I know if I'm a temporary resident? Do I have to sign an affidavit saying I'll live in this building until I die?
There's Another Way
By Will
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 8:08am
You want to stop folks from grabbing a meter and staying there all day? Write a ticket every two hours. Once that person sees 4 to 5 tickets at $25 a pop, they will never do that again, ever.
But what if they have a
By eherot
Sat, 12/03/2016 - 1:22pm
But what if they have a legitimate reason to stay there all day? Or what if they want to go to a restaurant and spend 3 or 4 hours? Why should we try to stop them if they're willing to pay for it?
This isn't going to change anything
By anon
Sun, 12/04/2016 - 3:13pm
Faulty thinking IMO. I highly doubt people aren't going drive because the parking goes up a few dollars. If you really want to reduce cars on the road, let's put some effort into improving the T instead of a program that's not going to alter anything!
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