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Mobility Monitoring – Park-and-Ride – MBTA Station Parking
OVERVIEW • REGIONAL TRENDS • ROADWAYS • INTERSECTIONS • TRANSIT
BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN • HOV LANES • TRAVEL DEMAND MANAGEMENT • PARK-AND-RIDE
Overview • MBTA Station Parking • Park-and-Ride Lots for Bus, Car, Vanpool
Park-and-Ride Lots at Transit Stations
The MBTA system is served by park-and-ride facilities, which play a key role in attracting riders and reducing vehicle-miles traveled. Park-and-ride lots are especially appealing to commuters in suburban locations, which often have residential neighborhoods that are too far from stations for walking.

Between January 2009 and August 2010, Congestion Management Process (CMP) staff inventoried MBTA, private, and municipality-owned parking lots at 114 commuter rail stations, 28 rapid transit stations, three ferry terminals, and one express bus lot.
Findings
Of the 114 MBTA commuter rail park-and-ride lots, 25 (22 percent) filled to 85 percent or more of capacity (the level defined as “full” in this inventory). At rapid transit stations with parking, 8 out of 28 lots were full (29 percent). No commuter ferry terminals filled. The Woburn express bus lot was 93 percent full. All findings can be downloaded from the links at the right.
Comparison with Previous Inventories
An inventory of park-and-ride stations was conducted as part of the Mobility Management System (MMS), now called the CMP, in the fall of 2005 and winter of 2006. Another inventory was conducted in the fall of 2002 for the CMP, known at that time as the Congestion Management System (CMS). The 2002 inventory only included park-and-ride lots located within Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization municipalities. A prior inventory, covering the entire MBTA system, was conducted by CTPS in 2000; this inventory was not associated with the CMP, but it is comparable to the later inventories.

The 2009–10 inventory showed that, compared to the earlier data, fewer park-and-ride lots at MBTA stations filled during the morning peak period, and the percentage of parking utilization has also decreased. In the 2005–06 inventory, 63 commuter rail stations were full, while in the 2000 and 2002 inventories, 72 were full. The parking utilization percentages on 9 of the 12 commuter rail lines have decreased since the 2005–06 inventory.

Results were similar for park-and-ride lots at rapid transit stations. The lots at 16 stations were full before the last peak-period train in the 2005/2006 inventory, as compared to 22 stations in the 2000 and 2002 inventories. All four rapid transit lines also saw decreases in parking utilization.

The decreases in parking utilization are likely due to several factors, including:
  • An increase in parking fees and commuter rail fares
  • A decrease in the overall number of people working due to the sluggish economy
  • An expansion of parking at some stations, including Hingham, North Quincy, and Wonderland
Despite the decrease in the percentage of parking utilized and in the number of park-and-ride lots that fill to capacity, some stations experienced higher demand for parking, including Anderson/Woburn, Lawrence, and Littleton stations. A few commuter rail stations filled to 85 percent or more of capacity in 2009–2010 but did not in previous inventories.

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