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Parking

Everything You Need to Know About Parking A Vehicle In Boston

If you decide to bring a car with you to Boston, you’ll need to find a place to put it. Both at home and on campus, parking in Boston can be a difficult task at times. Depending upon your neighborhood of choice, parking on the streets of Boston can be done with ease or complete frustration. There are a few options, though, that can help you determine where to put your car if you choose to bring one with you to the BUMC.

Parking Where You Live

If you are interested in parking your car on the street in the neighborhood of Boston where you live, you will probably need to get a resident sticker. Resident stickers allow you to park your car for free on any street in your neighborhood that is specifically marked with a “resident parking only” sign (right). If you park your car in a neighborhood where you don’t have a permit, you risk getting a $40 ticket.

While a resident sticker allows you to park your car on the street, it does not guarantee you a space. If you intend to bring a car with you to Boston, and you want to live in the neighborhoods of Fenway/Kenmore, the Back Bay, or Allston/Brighton, be prepared to circle your block a few times before you find a spot on the street. Also, brush up on your parallel parking skills.

The advantage of a resident sticker is that it’s free to get one, and it gives you an opportunity to park without charge at home. The downside, though, is that your car needs to be registered in the state of Massachusetts to get one, meaning you need a Massachusetts Driver’s License, and Massachusetts license plates. Switching over your license or plates can cost about $90. In order to get your MA license plates, you need to have proof of automobile insurance as well. Usually, the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) will use a form called the ‘RMV-1′ to ensure that you have insurance (call your insurance company to get more information about coverage in Massachusetts). Massachusetts auto insurance is usually more expensive than most other states’.

To get a resident sticker, you will need to go to City Hall with your automobile registration, an application (available below), and a copy of your lease or a utility bill that can be used to verify your address. You have to go in person to get your resident sticker, unfortunately.

Resident Parking Permits are issued at:

Boston City Hall (Government Center)
1 City Hall Square: 2nd Floor, Rm. 224
Boston, MA 02215
617-635-4000

Mon - Fri 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Click here to get more information and to download an application.

Below is a basic list of some of the locations in each neighborhood in the city that have significant resident sticker zones. Some of the larger neighborhoods, like Dorchester, are more open to visitor parking. Smaller neighborhoods, or those closer to downtown, like the Back Bay, have very little visitor parking and are almost entirely resident sticker only.

Resident Permit Parking Program Locations in Boston

In addition to resident stickers, many apartment buildings or complexes may have parking available for residents at an additional cost. This availability varies tremendously from building to building, and is definitely something you should ask the landlord or realtor about when you are first considering an apartment. A quick note about parking spaces, though - unless you are looking at a very high-end unit, there is a very good chance that the spots open to residents are in an open-air lot. If you decide to park your car in one of these lots, make sure you have a snow removal tool handy for the parts of the year when you’ll need to shovel your car out of a snow drift (usually late December through the end of February).

Parking On Campus

Unless you also live in the South End, you will probably need to find a place to park near campus, if you intend to use your car to commute to class. Parking in the South End is fairly expensive and difficult to come by, so unless you have set up your budget to handle the additional cost in advance, you may want to see if you can commute using public transportation. Spots in the South End can range from $150 to $250 per month, although higher prices are certainly not unheard of.

There are two main options for parking if you are looking for a spot in the South End (and you don’t live there): first, you can contact the Office of Parking and Transportation Services (OPTS) here at BUMC and see what they have available. The BUMC maintains two large garages, one at 710 Albany Street (right across from the School of Public Health) and one at 610 Albany Street. They sometimes offer spaces to students, if they are available. The spots generally run $140/month, although there are some subsidies for 3rd and 4th year medical students doing rotations. Despite the price, these garages are definitely the most convenient, and often less expensive than parking spots at large in the neighborhood. See the link on the bar at the left for more information from OPTS.

Second, you can try to find a spot using an online search tool, much in the same way that you would find an apartment. There are a few sites the OHR has found useful:

Parkingspaces.com

Craig’s List

Things to Remember

1. Resident permits are FREE of charge, but they don’t let you park outside of your neighborhood, nor do they guarantee you a space.
2. Resident permits are good for one year, but you can renew your permit through the mail.
3. In most areas, “meter feeding” is not allowed. If a spot is posted as two hour parking, that’s the limit, no matter how many quarters you put in the meter.
4. Boston is very good at giving out parking tickets. Street signs in your neighborhood will have a lot of information on them - here are things to watch out for:

   Street Cleaning - Most neighborhoods have monthly or weekly street cleaning days, in which parking is banned on alternating sides of the street. Be sure to read parking signs carefully. They will tow your vehicle if you do not move it on street cleaning days.

   Snow emergencies - in the event of a bad snow storm, certain streets are subject to snow emergency parking restrictions. If you live on a posted emergency snow artery, you will not be able to park on the street at all during a snow emergency. On secondary roads, parking is allowed on the even side of the street, unless otherwise posted. Strict enforcement of this regulation can be expected.

   Moving days - on days when Boston expects heavy traffic due to people moving into or out of their residences (especially around September 1st), certain spots may be restricted to vehicles that are moving. These notices are usually big red signs that get strapped or posted onto the street signs.

5. Persons with resident parking stickers on their vehicles must have their vehicle cleaned off and their parking sticker visible to passersby within twenty-four hours after the end of a snowstorm.
6. Here’s a quick run-down of what traffic violations can cost you in Boston:
   1. Parking without a resident permit in a resident zone is a $40 ticket.
   2. Parking in an illegal zone can be a $75 ticket (or more, depending on if you are blocking something important, like a fire hydrant).
   3. If your car does not meet current auto-emissions standards, you can be charged $25 (standard auto-emissions inspections last for one year).
   4. If you are parked too close to a fire hydrant (but not blocking it), you can get charged $25-$50.
   5. If you park too close to an intersection, you might get hit with a $40 ticket.
   6. Street cleaning tickets are usually $25.

   Boston has kindly set up a site to allow you to pay your parking violations online at the Boston Transportation Department Website. While paying parking tickets is never fun, if you have five outstanding tickets at any one time, Boston may put a boot on your car.

7. If you are going to be driving in Boston, the OHR highly recommends that you join AAA (the American Automobile Association). Boston winters are cold and can cause problems with older cars; likewise, the stop-and-go traffic in the city can wreak havoc on older transmissions. Trying to commute home only to find that your car won’t start is never fun, but its twice as bad if no one’s around to help. AAA’s website for Southern New England has a lot of information about road side assistance and the cost of joining.
8. Finally, remember that these laws and rules only apply in Boston itself - Brookline, Cambridge, and other nearby towns have their own transportation laws. See below for more information about Brookline and Cambridge in particular.

Additional Information on Areas Outside of Boston

Brookline
Town of Brookline Transportation Office
Town Hall
333 Washington Street, 4th Floor
617-730-2177
*No overnight parking is allowed on the streets of Brookline.

Cambridge
Department of Traffic and Parking
57 Inman Street
617-349-4700

Somerville
Somerville Office of Traffic and Parking
133 Holland Street
617-625-6600