Higher Prices Created More Parking Spaces in Boston

Boston officials have analyzed the results of a yearlong pilot project to test new schemes for pricing of parking in areas around the Back and Bay and Seaport District.

"City officials announced [last week] that the pilot program, which began on Jan. 3, 2017, showed increases in available metered parking spaces in both areas, as well as decreases in double-parked vehicles and resident-only parking violations," reports Lisa Creamer.

According to Creamer, the pilot project deployed two separate models for parking prices. "On some often-congested arteries in the Back Bay, officials upped the price of metered parking by $2.50 to $3.75 per hour," explains Creamer. "In the Seaport District, the city used what's called 'dynamic pricing,' using sensors in meters to determine the cost of metered parking rates based on the availability of spaces."

The city faced criticism from Mayor Martin J. Walsh in September, when he argued that the program hadn't helped congestion as much as hoped.

Still, the results show a change in parking availability: "Boston saw an 11 percent increase in open metered spots in the Back Bay, while the Seaport saw a modest 1 percent increase in available spaces," according to the analysis released last week.