Parking Meter Change

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

According to signs posted in Davis Square:

Parking meters in Davis Square will be in effect until 8pm Monday-Saturday beginning July 1st.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I can't tell if that is just for the parking lots, or also for the street meters.

[mihmo.livejournal.com]

i saw one of those signs a couple of weeks ago and it indicated it was for the parking lots only.

[seaweedgirle.livejournal.com]

In either case, ugh!

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

Ugh. That's terrible news. Will they at least still be only 25c per half hour?

[ron_newman]

Yes, this was part of the bargain struck for returning to the old rate.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Ick! Good thing my boyfriend can now park at the VFW for free. :)

[larksdream]

Grr, and feh.

[cos]

Do the signs say whether they've extended all the meters back to two hours yet? Or, will they do that as of July 1st?

... and in a related announcement, T fares will go down from their current obscene rates? Oh, wait, no, I guess not. This is just more regressive taxation, not promoting public transit. feh.

[ron_newman]

it's basically a tax on people who drive to Davis Square from out of town to shop and eat here in the evening. It's not a very high tax and I don't think it's a big deal. Davis Square is eminently reachable by public transit.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Depends on where you're coming from. amd how well-served your home neighborhood is by public transit. I used to live in Malden, the buses in my neighborhood had one-hour headways at off-hours. Definite disincentive to using transit, there, even to a place that's well-served by such.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

As they say you can't get there from here.

For some reason my bus completely stops running from Davis at 7:30pm. Rather annoying but I do get a fair amount of excercise walking home drunk at night.

[ron_newman]

Is that the #87 to Arlington Center? You can walk down to Mass. Ave. and get the #77 instead. That runs quite frequently, and until after 1 am.

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

I thought you lived on Winter Hill. Your message implies you're near Mass Ave.

[ron_newman]

*I* live off Mass. Ave, but I don't know where watchamacallit lives.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

imho, it's not the expense that's the problem it's the fact that you can't just show up after work and park at a meter and stay there for the evening. Now if you show up before 6 you have to either feed the meter after a bit (which is illegal) or move your car, but either way you can't just spend an uninterupted evening in davis if you show up before 6:00.
While I don't drive to davis (I rarely drive for that matter), I think it's rather absurd to switch the meters like that (I think I'd have much preferred a rate hike).

[cos]

That's the other issue - the T stops running early enough that you can't spend an unbothered evening in the square if you take the T in, either. If you want to arrive in the early evening and have the option of just staying at whatever activity you want until you want to leave, you now either have to remember to go back to feed the meter, or you have to be forced to leave by midnight whether you want to or not.

[cos]

Davis Square is eminently reachable by public transit.

... if you have money.

I drive to Davis Square to see my friends, participate in organizations or communities, etc. I drive because I can't afford to take the T regularly. It's not a big deal to people who come to shop or eat at restaurants because they presumably have money. It is a big deal to me, and mostly that's the fault of the obscenely high price of taking the T.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

You're that concerned about money and you pay to insure, register & park a car in Cambridge?

Personally I don't think there's anywhere in Cambridge that's outside of walking distance to Davis Square, so it's not that hard to exchange time for money if you're even slightly able-bodied.

[cos]

Not having a car is simply not an option for many many people. Including me. So the cost of going to Davis Square is unaffected by that, it's an invariant.

I live three miles from Davis. I don't have all day. I just have to go to Davis less often.

[ron_newman]

Depends what you mean by walking distance. It's quite a long walk from Davis Square to Lechmere or MIT.

Of course, my userpic suggests an alternative.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Depends what you mean by walking distance.

Yes, apparently it does. Perhaps I'm the only person in modern day who considers "the amount I can walk in an hour" (3-4 miles) to be a reasonable walking distance.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Nope, not the only one.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i'm with you on that. OTOH, i'm totally able-bodied.

[ron_newman]

Whereas I use "walking distance" to mean "within a mile", a 20-minute walk. Not that I mind walking further, but it would be misleading to most people if I said that MIT or Arlington Center were walking distance from Davis.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

While I'm perfectly able-bodied (and often walk home from Davis Sq., a three mile walk for me), I consider "walking distance" to be anything within about half a mile, or under 10 minutes walking in heels. I don't necessarily have all day to spend walking about the city.

I never drive to things early enough for the change to matter -- I'd arrive around 6ish, put two hours on the meters, and leave the car. (And I'd usually take the bus, since there is a convenient one that runs late for me.) I don't have a problem with the change, though, since I'm used to the meters in Boston.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It's distance I can walk, but not walking distance. I wouldn't consider that "walking distance" any more than I'd consider a supermarket that was an hour's drive away to be "local".

That said, I envy that you have enough free time that an hour to get any given place is reasonable! :)

[la-ti-da.livejournal.com]

what did it used to be? sorry, i never park in davis but am still curious.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that meters were in effect until 6pm throughout the city; I have no idea if that's a false assumption.

[ron_newman]

I believe that's correct, up to now. 8 am to 6 pm.

[cos]

6pm is standard meter time, almost everywhere. Including Davis Square, for now.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

Most of Boston switched to 8pm several years ago. Add to that the fact that a quarter only gets you 15 minutes and consider yourself lucky about the situation in Davis.

[ron_newman]

And I think that was done at the request of Back Bay merchants, who wanted more parking turnover in front of their stores during the early evening hours.

Many years ago, I was surprised to encounter meters in Inman Square (off Springfield Street, behind 1369) that ran until, I think, 10 pm.

[watchamacallit.livejournal.com]

I believe that's a public parking lot and the meters are paid with special tokens that you purchase from a machine. The regular street meters in Inman are comparable to the ones found throughout the city.

[ron_newman]

Back when I still had a car, it had ordinary meters, but they ran until 10 or 11. This was at least 7 years ago now.

[shinxy.livejournal.com]

Add that to the list of reasons to bike instead!

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

guess they're not so interested in people who pretty much have to come in by car to use the services in davis...

take someone that lives in NH, and comes into camberville a bunch, work/play... this is just another tax (as someone said). rather inconvenient.

the T is not really an option (time and $$$), neither is cycling, maybe roller blading in from a cheaper spot, but hey, on 90+ days like what we've had, i'd rather arrive not soaking wet.

#

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

Mayor Curtatone has been trying to help balance the budget with a number of parking initiatives. Longer street-cleaning season plus more ticket-writing, meters installed along sections of broadway that didn't have them before (for example, on Winter Hill and in Ball Square), and other similar actions.

Somerville city services have been improving in the past couple of years. This is not usually the case...