Park and Pray

 The city of Boston has announced the continuation of its annual practice of removing parking meter fees during Saturdays between November 29th and December 27th.  Although all meters will be free, a two hour limit will be enforced, so don’t try for anything long-term.  There is also no indication of whether or not the city will be providing any visual indication of the new policy at the meters, but I’d guess this will be a relatively unadvertised adjustment in enforcement only.

Regardless, kudos to the city for giving us a break from digging quarters out of our pockets while we’re trying to max-out our credit cards on shiny stuff for the holidays.

OK, so maybe not quite this bad

They say Spring comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Well winter in Boston comes in like a sheet of ice scraped from God’s windshield and doesn’t leave until the black and brown remains of the last storm are scraped from the streets and melted on the sidewalks. We’re approaching, at dangerous speeds, that time of the year when those of us who keep our vehicles exposed on the streets and at the mercy of a vengeful mother nature dig feverishly through their toolchests to find something that might break 3 inches of ice accumulated over the windshield wipers, clear the foot of snow burying the exterior, and give traction to the rear wheels so they can pull out from the tire-shaped ice-sculpture trapping them in place.

Yes, it’s an exciting time to be a car-owning Bostonian. We wait in quiet expectation for Jack Frost to come for our cruisers with all the elements of a west-coast governer’s portrayal of Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin.

Luckily for us all, Park and Pray has some suggestions on surviving the weather to come: Continue reading…

Mopeds use has greatly increased in Boston

Although gas prices in the Boston area are back down to near $2/gallon levels, the sharp increase over the summer drove many locals to explore other transportation options.  Limited as the T is, it is no wonder that a two-wheeled alternative took off in the form of european-modeled mopeds screaming down city streets at 80+ miles per gallon.

In Massachusetts, a moped is any two-wheeled vehicle with an engine size under 50ccs, an automatic transmission, and that is incapable of traveling over 30mph.  The registry requires a sticker to be purchased ($40 for two years), but mopeds are not plated and do not require insurance (nor can they obtain it even if they wanted to from the accounts I’ve heard).  They are allowed to legally pass on the right and use bike lanes on city streets, but are bound by local speed limits.  These edge-of-the-law vehicles are considered motorized bicycles by the RMV, but in light of the modifications being made to many models, and the simple fact that a 30mph flat ground speed often results in much higher downhill speeds, these two-wheelers can occasionally be seen cruising in excess of 40mph in and around the greater Boston area.

Of course the #1 advantage to a moped in Boston is the parking situation.   Continue reading…

As if the bad news with the increase in parking costs at T stations wasn’t enough, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has approved ludicrous toll increases across the board at booths surrounding Boston.

Let’s be ruthlessly mathematical about all this: Tolls are doubling at the Ted Williams Tunnel from $3.50 to $7.00, and to $9.00 for taxis.  Along with the $2.60 sit-down fee, and $2.25 airport fee, we’re looking at $13.85 just to get out of the airport.  At about 3 miles to downtown Boston, that comes to around $22.25.  With gas prices dropping, it’s quickly becoming economical to drive through east boston (the long way) just to dodge the toll.  Also, did we mention $22.25 to go 3 miles?

That’s just Logan.  I-90 tolls are also increasing Continue reading…

Menino Announces his Holiday Specials

On Friday, Mayor Menino announced the 2008 “Mayor’s Holiday Special”, which claims to include a number of holiday parking discounts in the Boston area.  Among these are discounts at the Prudential Center Garage, the Faneuil Hall Market Place Garage at 75 State St, and at Copley Place.  The site also references street parking as being “FREE on many weekends”, but then goes on to only cite Sundays as exempted street parking days (as they always have been).  Most of these offers appear to be limited to 3 hours or less, but if you’re coming into the city to shop, they could be useful savings.

The mayor’s office has set up an official site for the Holiday Special including discounts on holiday shows, shopping, dining and hotels.

Really, removing the tolls on the turnpike for the holidays probably would do more to bring people into Boston than discounting garage stays, which only benefit businesses in the immediate vicinity of the garage rather than the whole city.  But then, with the recently approved toll increases, I guess we’ll just have to keep that dream for another day.

Cambridge residents– don’t forget that your applications for new resident and visitor parking permits are due in the mail by January 14th for renewal before the January 31st expiration of 2008 permits, but can be mailed in as early as the beginning of this month.

Each year, Cambridge has a photo contest for the image to appear on the parking sticker.  Israel Ferraz’s photo of Cambridge City Hall (pictured) was selected this year from the 125 submitted.

The city encourages locals to renew their permits as early as possible, noting that it can take up to three weeks to receive a new permit during the high-volume renewal period.  

As of November 1st, the city is accepting renewal applications that may be filled out online for residents who fit the following requirements: Continue reading…

This photo pretty much sums up the New York attitude towards streets with “No standing” signs posted.  Like Boston, there appears to be the same quasi-truce between parking enforcement and car owners on certain streets where the one group looks the other way so long as the second keeps the streets passable.  I seem to recall someone telling me a while back that in some cities like Providence, RI, if your tire is touching the curb at all, they will ticket the vehicle, but I can’t seem to find confirmation of this on the Providence city website.

On a side note, now that we’re back from NYC, the issues we’ve been having posting to the site have been resolved.  Normal posting schedules will resume tomorrow.  Thanks for bearing with us!

Traffic in Times Square

Update from NYC: Reinforcing the notion that this city is by far the best example of organized chaos in traffic engineering and parking control in the country, New York has their traffic enforcement down to a science.  Street signs are stacked six tall with curbside parking instructions that local drivers cruising for spaces digest in seconds as they pass while dodging pedicabs, cyclists, scooters, film crews, tourists, and taxicabs.  It is no wonder that handheld cell phones were outlawed in this state for drivers; one more distraction and these cars (along with any nearby tourists, hot dog stands, and local hipsters) would be piled on top of each other at every intersection.  While our fair city could learn a lot in terms of efficiency, consistency, and overall traffic management from the big apple, it isn’t all good news from the city that never sleeps.

Some initial impressions from the first two days:   Continue reading…

Today marks the last work week before parking prices at all MBTA stations increase by $2 per day.  That’s cash of course, and good luck getting a receipt.  Naturally, the transit authority doesn’t seem to think the change warrants any rider complaints, arguing to the Globe that compared to downtown parking, it’s still a bargain.

Now, far be it for management to consider that this difference in price might be the key reason that riders use the lots in the first place, but frankly that $2 hike has effectively swallowed the cost of a T-ride into the city.  Also, if the Alewife lot was $30/day, I certainly wouldn’t have friends visiting from out of town parking on the outskirts.  Needless to say, it’s not Continue reading…

This weekend and through Veteran’s day, Park and Pray goes on assignment to the Big Apple.  Powershot in hand, we hope to learn more about our parking neighbors to the south and compare the habits, regulations, and local auto-acrobatics to those we experience daily here in Boston.

The full report will go up early next week, but we’ll do our best to get some teasers and highlights up over the weekend while on-location.  

Other upcoming features to watch out for this coming week as we ramp up the site:

• Park and Pray’s Parking Hall of Fame
• The Tech of City Parking
• Double-Parker’s Anonymous
• …and MORE!