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Boston parking-meter zones mapped

Boston Parking Zones is a map that is exactly what its name says it is.

Grouchy Roslindale ed. note: The map's explanatory text suffers from the common assumption that thar be dragons past the MFA or Melnea Cass Boulevard and so says there are only three small spots where you can find "free parking in Boston," when, in fact, there is a huge swath of the city where the parking is always free, even in municipal lots.

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Comments

Used to be a guy a long time ago down near Kingston st who would come out at night and saw down parking meters

He was a reclusive, mad scientist of sorts (at least thats what the stories ya heard around Foley's used to say) and if the legend is true, the city just gave up after awhile.

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Like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke.

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Note that East Boston and South Boston are also not included in the list of parking zones.

This company is just trying to make dosh by managing parking/fine payments for companies with vehicle fleets (and also gullible individuals).

They almost certainly know that their 'map' is hilariously lacking in data - they're crowd-sourcing the work of populating the database, and adam (and many others, I'm sure) have unfortunately taken the bait. Pretty typical MO - can't wait to see the 'articles' and 'reports' on the local news that are actually just thinly-veiled ads for these guys.

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Not really sure what company you think is behind this page.

https://www.bostonparkingzones.com/about is pretty clear they are not connected to ParkBoston/Passport Parking.

FWIW I love the Orkney Rd comment since most of the streets north of there also have free parking.

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The "about" text says,

We are not ParkBoston, Passport Parking, or the Government

Boston Parking Zones is a group of friends looking to help the Boston driving community. We started this project to fix a problem not solved by ParkBoston, Passport Parking, or City Hall. If you use this service, please consider donating via Paypal.

They do not appear to be trying to monetize their work any way other than asking for donations. There is no advertising on the site. It does not, on first inspection, appear to be riddled with trackers and data collectors other than the near ubiquitous google analytics.

Absent evidence to the contrary, I'm going to believe they are who they say they are, and that they are doing what they say they are doing for the reasons they say they are doing it.

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Hi Jeff, I built this site.

I agree - the map is super lacking in data. The only resources I have is the city's data which I linked to in the FAQ. Hopefully if we crowdsource this we can get closer to 100% coverage.

I'm 100% not looking to make any money on this. I always forget my parking zone number, and I needed an excuse to learn a couple new frontend web dev libraries. The site only costs 10$/month in server costs to run, so I'm hoping for donations to help pay those costs (I'm a recent college grad, so money is tight).

I hope others reading this will help by contributing any+all feedback/zone numbers they're willing to.

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This is long overdue - thanks for taking up where the city should have already done. Understanding the rules of the parking per block is needed - is this residential after the meters expire or not (please add) can mean the difference between a nice dinner or a dinner ruined by a more expensive ticket. Yes you have to read the signs but you can only do that after you park - taking a spot that isn't going to be valid in a hour can mean losing out on one three spaces up that is good until 8 am the next weekday. Crowdsourcing a free website/app that people need isn't a bad think people of UHub!!

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Good idea. Will put this on the todo list.

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There are certain things that are just not done. Giving out the locations of free parking spots in downtown Boston on the internet is one of them.

That said there are a lot of well known free places in the neighborhoods covered missing from the list

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Mimicking the city's website typeface, color scheme, and general aesthetic is pretty scummy since this isn't run by the city...

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It says it's noting parking zones, as in the zone numbers you add in the parking app to pay for parking. If there's free parking, there's no "zone" because you already don't have to pay.

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My ire, such as it is, is directed at the explanatory text that goes along with the map.

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Are there paid parking zones which take the app past the MFA or Melnea Cass Boulevard?

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