Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett

Arlington said:
I sympathize with displaced Wellington garage Parkers:why isn't it a "rule" that parking so close to a T is somehow reserved for T users?

Or why wasn't the casino asked to build / add instead of outbidding existing commuters?

Imagine, for example, if they had been allowed to "private train" some of the Orange Line fleet?
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For anybody unfamiliar, this lot is the garage across the 1/5 mile skybridge. The Wellington parking lot, directly next to the station, still has capacity. The garage has 8 floors, and the very top 2 are leased by the MBTA. You can park for $1 cheaper per day in the MBTA section, but you have to drive all the way to the top. The MBTA section is not changing according to the sign on the door, just the Pilgrim Open Parking section. The complaints are from those who like covered parking on the bottom floors.
 
Arlington said:
I sympathize with displaced Wellington garage Parkers:why isn't it a "rule" that parking so close to a T is somehow reserved for T users?

Or why wasn't the casino asked to build / add instead of outbidding existing commuters?

Imagine, for example, if they had been allowed to "private train" some of the Orange Line fleet?
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Because it's the God Damn free F'ing market, dude!! Do you really think government should be micromanaging parking garage operators, of all people, to that level?!
 
There are tons of (empty) Encore busses driving around Everett and the surrounding area all the time. It looks like they are practicing. They definitely will have a big fleet when it opens.
 
:confused:Don't know if it is true or not, but I heard that the June 19th opening may be delayed for about a month. Something to do with former CEO Steve Wynn & the scandal that he was involved in.
 
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awood91 said:
Do you really think government should be micromanaging parking garage operators, of all people, to that level?!
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Garages physically attached directly to T stops are not really a free market. The provision of transit to an area creates a public-policy need that nearby parcels will contribute to ridership, not outbid its users.

I'm not sure of the exact history, but that garage was originally attached by an "horizontal elevator" and now the original structure has an enclosed walkway in the air rights over the Wellington Yard. That's sort of an implied subsidy (by transit to deliver customers to the garage)

Its location is part of a TOD package. Maybe we didn't write the contract tight enough, but the idea of the whole thing was that the parking supported transit ridership, not that employers far away would outbid on-site and transit users.

In net, this deal is going to decrease transit ridership at Wellington without taking any cars off the road (it replaces Orange Line commuters with employees riding a Wynn shuttle bus).

Politically, it is worth making a stink. Here we do have a clear case of Wynn making his employee's lives better by making somebody else's worse. If he'd been required to build a new garage somewhere (or only use non-TOD structured parking) that'd be preferable from a public policy standpoint.

Maybe you can get an "MBTA" spot on the top 2 floors...but that's a lot of extra schlepping and driving every day and not going to be fun if they get stuck behind a Wynn shift-change clot on the lower floors.
 
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As far as I could tell, the testing did happen today. There were signs in Everett saying that there was an event at Encore by invitation only.
 
DrFreewind said:
As far as I could tell, the testing did happen today. There were signs in Everett saying that there was an event at Encore by invitation only.
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yeah I've seen a bunch of pictures from inside circulating on social media, looks pretty nice... I guess? I'm not one for the casino lifestyle but seems to be getting positive feedback, ignoring the parking prices which are getting lots of complaints. Good thread of pics of the inside for those interested: https://twitter.com/Chase_Bianchi/status/1141486916652752899
 
HelloBostonHi said:
yeah I've seen a bunch of pictures from inside circulating on social media, looks pretty nice... I guess? I'm not one for the casino lifestyle but seems to be getting positive feedback, ignoring the parking prices which are getting lots of complaints. Good thread of pics of the inside for those interested: https://twitter.com/Chase_Bianchi/status/1141486916652752899
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I was pleasantly surprised by parking prices. They could be higher, but downtown Boston prices makes sense and should hopefully encourage people to take alternate transit options.

Also, I was in the area last night and saw some of the shuttles doing empty runs.
 
If people are complaining about parking prices, that means they are working as intended. If parking were free, I guarantee traffic would be a total nightmare, and the lot will probably regularly fill up. People tend to only look at time-of-use costs when traveling, so if parking was free while taking the T and shuttle bus costs money, people will often see driving as being cheaper (even though it's usually not) and choose to do that. We want people to see driving to the casino as the least appealing choice, not the most.
 
Arlington said:
Garages physically attached directly to T stops are not really a free market.

Its location is part of a TOD package. Maybe we didn't write the contract tight enough, but the idea of the whole thing was that the parking supported transit ridership, not that employers far away would outbid on-site and transit users.

Politically, it is worth making a stink. Here we do have a clear case of Wynn making his employee's lives better by making somebody else's worse.
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I'm still confused on the general anger here, not just from you. Whose life is worse except for the people who left their extra cars on cheap long-term leases? There isn't a parking shortage. The Wellington Lot has capacity. If anything, this is boosting the viability of Station Landing, and its residences, offices, retail (almost fully leased) by ensuring a steady stream of daily commuters.

This is space for ~700 cars NOT in Everett. The shuttles ARE a way to get cars off the road in critical areas and take a bus. Remember that the new childcare facility at Station Landing will also reduce vehicle miles for all of the parents who don't need to make an extra stop before going to work.
 
Vagabond said:
I'm still confused on the general anger here, not just from you. Whose life is worse except for the people who left their extra cars on cheap long-term leases? There isn't a parking shortage. The Wellington Lot has capacity. If anything, this is boosting the viability of Station Landing, and its residences, offices, retail (almost fully leased) by ensuring a steady stream of daily commuters.

This is space for ~700 cars NOT in Everett. The shuttles ARE a way to get cars off the road in critical areas and take a bus. Remember that the new childcare facility at Station Landing will also reduce vehicle miles for all of the parents who don't need to make an extra stop before going to work.
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Just focusing on the Wellington thing for a bit... I don't think you are correct. I can't find it at the moment, but by my recollection from previous MBTA reports was that Wellington reached 100% capacity on most weekdays. So, it does indeed "have capacity" which is being fully utilized and is not available capacity on weekdays until after 5 or 6 pm. During the weekends, yes it has plenty of available capacity to help with casino parking probably. But if you can find data from the MBTA that would be most helpful.

As for a public policy... parking garages are highly regulated at multiple levels. And the good placement and right sizing the capacity of parking garages should be of great public policy concern.

To me getting people approaching urban areas out of their cars and onto public transportation by providing sufficient parking capacity closer to the highways is a good thing for urban development. I do wish the state would build a 2000 car parking garage in Sullivan Square on their property which would help get people out of their cars and onto buses or the orange line sooner.
 
tangent said:
Just focusing on the Wellington thing for a bit... I don't think you are correct. I can't find it at the moment, but by my recollection from previous MBTA reports was that Wellington reached 100% capacity on most weekdays. So, it does indeed "have capacity" which is being fully utilized and is not available capacity on weekdays until after 5 or 6 pm. During the weekends, yes it has plenty of available capacity to help with casino parking probably. But if you can find data from the MBTA that would be most helpful.

As for a public policy... parking garages are highly regulated at multiple levels. And the good placement and right sizing the capacity of parking garages should be of great public policy concern.

To me getting people approaching urban areas out of their cars and onto public transportation by providing sufficient parking capacity closer to the highways is a good thing for urban development. I do wish the state would build a 2000 car parking garage in Sullivan Square on their property which would help get people out of their cars and onto buses or the orange line sooner.
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Sorry, I know I should let this go. but building a massive park and ride facility 2 stops from north station is a crazy idea.
 
Ruairi said:
Sorry, I know I should let this go. but building a massive park and ride facility 2 stops from north station is a crazy idea.
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Come on... that is intentionally ignorant. There are tens of thousands of cars driving into the city going right past there. Taking a couple thousand cars off the road isn't crazy. Saying they should get on a train every hour in Woburn if they want to go to Boston is what's crazy.
 
tangent said:
Come on... that is intentionally ignorant. There are tens of thousands of cars driving into the city going right past there. Taking a couple thousand cars off the road isn't crazy. Saying they should get on a train every hour in Woburn if they want to go to Boston is what's crazy.
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Well if we worked on our urban rail and had some more frequent service to Woburn...
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Well if we worked on our urban rail and had some more frequent service to Woburn...
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Those are big speculative ifs that haven't come to fruition. I am talking about the here and now on a fairly low hanging solution to keeping a thousand or two thousand people from driving more than a few hundred feet off the interstate.

There is surface parking in Sullivan Square now, which I think is crazy. So I am just talking about a garage with ground level retail on the street level to replace the surface parking.

The argument should be about pricing it so that every day commuters are parking in Woburn and riding in on the commuter rail. A garage in Sullivan in terms of the casino, would keep a lot of people off the road, specifically rt 99 and it would be useful for the occasional person coming into Boston looking for a good parking option of downtown Boston.
 
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