Parking in Brighton or Park and Ride on the MBTA Green Line?

January 9, 2009 10:24 AM

Trying to improve my commute from Framingham to my boyfriend's house in Brighton, MA. Where can I pay to park in Brighton near the corner of Summit Ave & Allston St or near a Green Line B stop?

I haven't been able to find any parking near my boyfriend's apartment in Brighton, so my current solution has been:

- From Framingham, take Route 9 to Route 16 to the Woodland T station on the D line. This takes me about 25 minutes.
- Pay about $6/night to park my car in the Woodland garage. This garage is literally AT the T station, which is lovely.
- Take the T from Woodland to Beaconsfield, which is another 20-25 minutes.
- Walk a mile to boyfriend's house, which can be about 20-25 minutes when the sidewalks are solid ice like they have been lately.

All told, this is a pain, so I'm looking for a better solution. Is there any parking available within a mile+ radius of the corner of Summit Ave and Allston St? Paying for it is not a problem. I say mile+ because being able to drive there at all hours without worrying about having to catch a T would be worth walking the extra distance.

As a second option, his house is very close to a T stop on the B branch of the Green Line. Is there any paid parking available at other B line stops? I've traveled the length of the C line and not seen anything that looks like commuter parking, but am I missing some lot/garage nearby?

posted by lizzicide to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

I used to live in that area. Unfortunately, parking is sort of a nightmare around there, especially when it snows. You may want to check at some of the gas stations - there's a Gulf on Comm Ave. just a bit west of Washington Street that may offer overnight parking. It will cost you, though.

There are "guest" parking spots on most streets - they're located at intersections, and there's enough space for maybe 2 or 3 cars. You can park there without fear of getting ticketed, but because there's such a large student population in that area they tend to squat those spots with their out-of-state cars.

Good luck. My car was registered in Boston and I still couldn't find parking many days of the week.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:24 AM on January 9

I also used to live in that area. At that time there was a section of Comm Ave between Harvard Ave and Packard's Corner that had open parking - no permit required. There are also areas in that section with meters which you could park at overnight. This is all very hit or miss because everyone else is trying to do the same thing. If paying is really not an issue you could always play chicken with the parking police and chance parking in residential parking or overnight in Brookline. Or you could try and rent a space via Craigslist. Allston/Brighton really doesn't make it easy for visitors.
posted by FreezBoy at 11:36 AM on January 9

Brainerd (which is the continuation of Corey) is visitor, but fills up very quick. Washington St has a fair number of spaces across Comm Ave a little ways. Corey St has about two spaces halfway up the hill, and I think Bellvista has some too. But you can end up circling for an hour to find a space.

A number of the apartment complexes and some of the small buildings have extra spaces that you could rent, though they're not terribly cheap. The metered spaces on Comm Ave fill up fast, but sometimes you get one. Brookline always has free spaces, but there's a two hour limit. For short visits, though, that's by far the easiest thing.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 11:48 AM on January 9

Paying the occasional parking ticket is not an issue, but I'm fearful of getting towed. If I'm parked on the street, I'm not even sure they'd be able to get a tow truck in a decent position, so how likely is it that they'll haul my precious car out of town? How much are parking tickets in that area?

All the visitor spots I've seen on the streets around his house are 2 hour max and I've seen signs saying something about parking being prohibited between 2am-6am.
posted by lizzicide at 11:54 AM on January 9

you could always play chicken with the parking police and chance parking in residential parking or overnight in Brookline.

This is probably not a winning prospect... I've stared down their parking enforcement before, and lost every time (me + my friends over 2.5 years = 8 attempts, 0 successes), because Brookline apparently spends its tax revenues exclusively on an elite squadron of meter maids who trawl every street promptly at 3 AM and know neither pity nor fear.

If you're going to be there a lot and want to look at monthly options, BU has a couple of dedicated lots on Comm Ave that I think they'll rent out to anyone. You'll also have better luck with the visitor spots if you time your arrival well--after 5 PM, you're out of luck every time. I've had the best luck over on Corey Road, which has a couple of spots that aren't clearly marked as visitor. The closer you get to Washington Street, the less dense the student crowd gets, and the better chance you have of getting a spot.
posted by Mayor West at 12:03 PM on January 9

On not-previewing:
All the visitor spots I've seen on the streets around his house are 2 hour max and I've seen signs saying something about parking being prohibited between 2am-6am.

That's on the Brookline side of things... I don't know where the line cuts through in his neighborhood, but anything explicitly marked as a visitor spot is by definition in Allston and OK for overnight parking. You'll be OK until you get three or four tickets, but then I'd start being a little leery.
posted by Mayor West at 12:06 PM on January 9

Your commute to your boyfriend's right now sounds so horrid that searching for a non-res parking spot in the area might be way easier. If you want to be nearly guaranteed parking, there is often parking around the reservoir near Cleveland Circle. It'd be a 3 or 4 minute walk to the B line, Chestnut Hill stop. Also, there is non-res parking along Comm. Ave heading towards BC from Cleveland Circle as well. It's easy if you get there early enough.

Also, I have a feeling there is more available non-res parking north of Comm ave away from your boyfriend's. South of Comm. is really congested, while there tend to be more houses than apartment buildings on the north side. I know for a fact that there are a couple visitor parking spaces at Union St. and Monastary Rd. because my boyfriend used to park there when I lived near there. Only a 0.4 mi walk to your boyfriend's!

Ok, hope that helped a bit. I don't know of any pay lots in the area.
posted by hooper4 at 12:23 PM on January 9

PS Don't park in Brookline overnight. You WILL GET TOWED (maybe not today.... or tomorrow.... but very soon).
posted by hooper4 at 12:25 PM on January 9

If I'm parked on the street, I'm not even sure they'd be able to get a tow truck in a decent position

Just and FYI I have seen a tow truck pull up parallel to a car that was parked behind a tree so he couldn't at the front. He put the winch on the front axle and just pulled it sideways. You could hear the parking break snap and some other things break. So they find a way to tow your car. Of course this was in front of Fenway before gates closed, but they had police permission to do it.
posted by lilkeith07 at 1:26 PM on January 9

You're all best answers in my book, even if it looks like I'm going to be sticking with my original commute or shelling out to his landlord for parking. Sigh.
posted by lizzicide at 1:06 PM on January 11