Three hour parking

[somjournal.livejournal.com]

You can now park for three hours at lots in Davis Square. Weigh in on the change on our blog.

Comments

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Sweet!

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Oh goody. Because we do so need more cars in Davis Square.
The world needs more people driving when they don't need to. Seriously.

[ron_newman]

I don't think this will bring "more cars" into the Square. It will just reduce the number of tickets people get who are already here.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Playing Devil's advocate, by increasing the allowed parking time, it could increase traffic in the Square. Here's my logic: longer parking time decreases parking space turnover, which effectively means fewer parking spaces available, which means more cars circling the Square looking for spaces, so, more traffic. Imagine there are 100 spaces in the Square, each with 6 hypothetical two hour "slots" (presuming meters are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.). That's 600 parking slots. Increase max parking time to three hours, and each parking space has only 4 slots, for a total of 400 slots, a decrease of 50%. Of course, most people don't stay the full 2 or 3 hours, so the real decrease is much less, perhaps 10-20% (total guess).

On the otherhand, fewer available spaces could decrease traffic if people decide it's not worth it to drive to the Square because it is too hard to park, but I think it's more likely that traffic will increase.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

If anything, I think it'll make it harder for people to find a spot on Friday and Saturday nights.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Y'know, maybe YOU don't need a car or to drive. Maybe YOU can get around just fine by bus or train or your own two feet. Maybe YOU live in a location that allows all of this. Not everyone does. Not everyone has the physical mobility to bus/train or walk everywhere.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Very glad I live within walking distance and have very easy parking.

[ron_newman]

By the way, if your car has a Somerville resident permit sticker, that is good citywide. Park on the residential side streets for free, instead of taking up and paying for meters.

(this applies only to stickers, not to guest cards)

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, because it's so very easy to get around to the square when the closest bus to your house goes to Wellington. After all, everyone lives in such convenience.

What we really need less of in Davis Square is pompous, arrogrant elitists who believe that because they've lived there for a year or three, they have sole ownership of a community.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see that the city is willing to cut back on ticketing in the square, but I don't think that this will help or hinder the parking (or lack thereof) situation much.

Most people I know who do park in the square just leave the bar/restaurant or shop and go feed the meter. Worst case scenario, they suck up the tickets and feed the city coffers.

I park in the VFW parking lot. It's free to members who have the parking pass, never full on any night and easy access to everything. : )

[twe.livejournal.com]

Nifty, but are those lots ever not full?

[i-custard.livejournal.com]

but isn't it free to park after 8 on a friday or saturday night anyway? i guess if you do an early dinner it would be hard, but otherwise i'm not sure that will change...

[twe.livejournal.com]

The parking situation there is pretty pesky. I've been meaning to bring my sewing machine over for service, but the hassle of parking puts me off. I took a day off work to bring a pile of stuff over to the good will in the middle of the day, but even then it was nearly impossible to park and unload stuff.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I just have to stop for a bit towards the Teele end of the square, I haven't had any issues finding parking in that lot (next to the T) after 4 in the afternoon in...years. It's usually a third to half empty by then. Can't speak for after 6 though.

[ron_newman]

yes, it's free to park after 8 pm on all nights.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. Believe me. That's why I'm so grateful for my spot in the VFW lot. I don't really see how upping the limit to three hours is going to do anything to make it better...but really, I don't see how it can make it worse either. That was my point.

Next time you need to go into the square, let me know and I'll sneak my pass to you. : D

[ron_newman]

do you mean the 90 bus? the other end of that goes to Davis.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

No. It's one that goes to Malden as well. Numbers elude me because I don't ride it but asked a neighbor at one point.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I live in Boston. One does not "need" a car to live in Boston (or Cambridge, or Somerville). This is the precise reason why I moved here 7 years ago. Because one does not need a car to get around in this city.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Hey don't get mad at me because you wanted to live in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation.

I chose to live where I do because I didn't want to have to have a car. I live within blocks of Porter Square. I specifically chose my neighbourhood because it is close to not only the T, but to a supermarket, a pharmacy, several restaurants, a liquour store, a dry cleaner, and all the other vestiges of civilization.

And I've lived here seven years, thank you kindly. Not that I am arrogant, pompous or elitist. I leave those personality traits to the suburbanites who commute into my places and then complain about how they are unable to park when they come here.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, right now most weekdays/nights there are tons of spaces in the lots already - a lot of time you see people circling not because there aren't spaces, but because they don't want to pay. I really don't think this will affect anything other than people don't have to run to feed meters as much.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

I don't think they got annoyed at you because they don't have public transportation. They got annoyed at you for making crazy assumptions and being an ass. Big difference.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I would hardly classify someone who has grown up here and lives a 7 minute drive from Davis Square as a "suburbanite".

I could have told you to go back to California because the last thing that the Greater Metro Boston area in general needs is more imported pains in the ass who think that they know better than anyone, but I didn't. Then.

In light of your snobbish attitude about being somewhere near the "vesitges" of civilization, I will now.

Pinkies up, dahling. We're all so very uncivilized elsewhere in this metropolis.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

That would be the answer and, if that is your motorcycle in your icon, you are making me cry.

[damsel-ophelia.livejournal.com]

Not everyone has the physical mobility to bus/train or walk everywhere.
Having spent the last 8 weeks recovering from fractures (foot and tailbone), I've had a chance to see just how much the T is a hostile environment for folks with mobility issues (that's everything from the perpetual game of broken escalator/elevator roulette to bus drivers who can't be bothered to wait until a person using crutches has reached the seat just beyond the farebox before pulling away). If I owned a vehicle, there is no way on earth I would have used public transit - and that's coming from someone who wholeheartedly supports the use of public transit/walking/biking.