THERE IS ONLY so much highway space available to accommodate the crush of cars commuting into and around Boston, just as there are only so many parking spaces in which to stash them once they’ve arrived.
But that zero-sum game doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t ways to relieve both traffic and parking logjams.
New apps are making it possible to search out parking spaces in Boston and compare prices being offered, as garages that have signed up with the spate of online sites are offering big discounts off their standard rates. There is even an Airbnb-like branch of the new app-based parking sector opening up, with owners of individual parking spaces putting them up for rent online. (One Back Bay condo owner lists his space on a parking app at the bargain basement price of $3.50 an hour.)
Meanwhile, when it comes to easing traffic congestion, the idea of the day is congestion toll pricing for drivers on the Massachusetts Turnpike and Tobin Bridge. The state budget approved this week by lawmakers includes a provision calling for a pilot study that would offer a discount on tolls to drivers using the roads during off-peak hours. The idea is to create an incentive for those with scheduling flexibility to drive at times that roads aren’t the most overloaded.
Signing off on the budget provision should be an easy call for Gov. Charlie Baker, “who ran as a data-driven pragmatist in 2014,”
says a
Globe editorial. But Baker sounds very cool to the idea, strongly hinting that a veto could be in store. In a radio interview yesterday he said those without scheduling flexibility would view the scheme as “incredibly punitive.”
Even though the pilot programs calls for a 25 percent discount on tolls during off-peak hours, many are suspicious that congestion pricing would ultimately mean raising tolls from their baseline rate for those driving during peak time periods.
Meet the Author
Executive Editor, CommonWealth
About Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.
Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.
Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.
About Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.
Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.
Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.
Herald columnist Michael Graham applauds Baker (in a bit of a backhanded way) for not taking the bait-and-switch argument that the plan would merely lead to lower tolls for off-peak users. “This is the sort of blue-state social engineering he’s usually more than happy to go along with,”
writes Graham.
Baker may well hold his ground on behalf of toll payers. If he does, that puts the ball in his court to offer ideas to address the gridlock eating at the economic productivity of the region — and the nerves of those stuck in it.
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