Is parking too cheap?

All City of Boston parking meters will be replaced with smart meters by the end of the summer.
More Than 8,000 Parking Meters Will Be Mobile-Friendly This Summer
Nick DeLuca - Staff Writer
04/01/15 @12:27pm in City News

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"By the end of summer 2015, all municipal metered spaces, more than 8,000, will accommodate remote payments via the app but this implementation will be done in three phases:

Remaining spaces in Back Bay and the Fenway/Kenmore area
Downtown, Beacon Hill, the West End, North End, and Charlestown
South Boston, the South End, Mission Hill, Allston, and Brighton."

Full article:
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/...-parkboston-mobile-meter-payment-partnership/
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What about Dorchester? East Boston? Hyde Park? Roxbury? These neighborhoods, and others, aren't included in the graphic.
 
bigeman312 said:
What about Dorchester? East Boston? Hyde Park? Roxbury? These neighborhoods, and others, aren't included in the graphic.
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Do they have much in parking meters? I can't recall ever seeing a meter in East Boston. Lots of 2 hour parking zones, but they aren't metered.
 
millerm277 said:
Do they have much in parking meters? I can't recall ever seeing a meter in East Boston. Lots of 2 hour parking zones, but they aren't metered.
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Good point. Could be a good time to install smart-meters in locations where they would make sense, i.e. Dudley Square.
 
bigeman312 said:
What about Dorchester? East Boston? Hyde Park? Roxbury? These neighborhoods, and others, aren't included in the graphic.
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They must not be part of the "done by the end of the summer" project.
 
The ParkBoston rollout and the smart meter rollout are two distinct projects - Correct? The timing and similarity make it seem like one.
 
bigeman312 said:
Good point. Could be a good time to install smart-meters in locations where they would make sense, i.e. Dudley Square.
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Agreed. The fact there are no meters at all in the ~2 dozen spaces immediately adjacent to Maverick station is absurd (to name just one example).
 
Reading the comments at boston.com is bad for a lot more than just your blood pressure. Your doctor should be advising you that running blindfolded across the Pike when traffic is heavy but flowing at 60 mph is healthier than reading the comments at boston.com.
 
West said:
Reading the comments at boston.com is bad for a lot more than just your blood pressure. Your doctor should be advising you that running blindfolded across the Pike when traffic is heavy but flowing at 60 mph is healthier than reading the comments at boston.com.
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This advice extends to just about every online comments section.
 
aaaaaa said:
If that was the final language, doesn't that pretty forcefully outlaw space savers of any kind or duration?
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Not as I read it.

The city has granted permission to the public to use space savers for a short time after a snowstorm. That seems consistent with said quote.

If Haystack had permission from the City of Boston to sell spaces, then it would be legal as well. (not that it would ever get it).

It's doing any of that with parking without permission from the city that the quote seems to outlaw.
 
aaaaaa said:
A few days back, NPR's Planet Money had an episode on the Haystack parking app, and it's ultimate failure. Although most of you know the story, it's still a good listen
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Never a good business model to try and monetize and encourage a practice that people hate.
 
aaaaaa said:
A few days back, NPR's Planet Money had an episode on the Haystack parking app, and it's ultimate failure. Although most of you know the story, it's still a good listen.
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The NPR story seems to suggest that Haystack would promote a cost to parking, but that is really not true, especially for free spaces such as resident spaces.

The flaw is similar to that from people who claim "Parking isn't free, you have to drive around looking for a space". That places a cost on the transaction of finding a space, not on using a space. You can leave your car in free parking all winter in Boston and not face the "cost" of searching for parking. Parking spaces need to turn over.

Some might suggest that Haystack users would be encouraged to move their cars by the fact they could make money using the app. That is an odd incentive. Maybe I keep my car in a prime spot over night until 8:57 when I know I can sell it at a higher price to someone trying to get to a 9 AM meeting? That really is not what I would call a good goal. At high enough prices, one could buy multiple beater cars, making $600/month with each car moving them out at peak parking demand and back in at time of low demand.

An ideal pricing strategy places a price on occupying a space. And with this price, encourages people to use public transit rather than driving, encourages people to go without cars and adopt car sharing, and allows for a market to develop for paid private parking that does not have to compete with free public parking such that buildings would build spaces to meet market demand rather than relying on zoning to dictate 1-2 spaces per unit or other measure.

Of course, on top of this, charging for the use of city spaces should primarily provide money back to the city.
 
Is parking too cheap?
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Yes, at least according to BPS. The school formerly known as South Boston High School is proposing to stop giving away free parking and charge $100 / mo to people who want to park in their lot overnight.

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Should have auctioned them instead of the lottery.
 
Hooray! Progress! Now that Mayah Mahtee is my mayor, I'm going to reach out and let him know that I 100% support this proposal and a move like this (among others) will help him gain my vote in the next election.
 
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