When does Alewife parking fill up these days?

February 22, 2024 1:12 PM

Hey Boston-area folks, I'm coming from Western MA to Mass Eye and Ear in Boston for a 9:40AM appointment on Tuesday, and I'm deciding whether to park at Alewife or drive the whole way in. I'd much rather avoid driving into Boston, but how early would I have to get to Alewife these days to be sure of getting a spot? I'm open to other alternatives, too.

The less urban driving and the less stress, the better.

posted by daisyace to Travel & Transportation around Boston, MA (7 answers total)

If you plan to park at Alewife, make sure you check the MBTA Service Alerts before you drive out. There was a planned shutdown of the Red Line between Alewife and Harvard a couple of weeks ago, and the unplanned outages across the system are all too frequent.

(And if you decide drive all the way to MEEI, I'm happy to give you some parking suggestions. There are a couple of parking lots that are very convenient, but it can be a little tricky getting to them. I've driven there a bunch of times recently.)
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:29 PM on February 22, 2024 [2 favorites]

I do just want to note that you can get to the Mass Eye & Ear Storrow Drive lot using just the interstate and Storrow Drive - no surface streets at all. You might run into some unpleasant merging on Storrow Drive but there will be unpleasant merging on Fresh Pond near Alewife, too.

ETA: at least as of last year, ridership on the Red Line was sufficiently low and there were enough extra spaces in the Alewife garage that they were using parts of the garage for construction staging.
posted by mskyle at 1:52 PM on February 22, 2024 [3 favorites]

I had an appointment at MGH a bit ago and that is a bit of a hellish intersection and based on the pdf posted you can't get to the non-handicap lot coming from the west anyway. My vote would be for Alewife; but check on the Red Line delays as noted.
posted by damayanti at 4:24 PM on February 22, 2024

Best answer: I have gotten spaces on the 3rd or 4th floor (ie not the roof) as late as 10:30am in the past few months. I think I’ve only been on the roof once post-pandemic, when pre-pandemic it was full by 9am.
posted by nonane at 4:58 PM on February 22, 2024

I would park at your closest MBTA station, take the train, then the t.
posted by brujita at 6:39 PM on February 22, 2024

Sorry I have no suggestion on Alewife but wanted to mention that you could park at the MGH parking garage on Fruit St and you'd be like half a block away. I was there yesterday and even though the sign at the entrance was blinking "Garage Full" there were plenty of spots to be had even on the first 2 levels.

Also, just wanted to throw out the consideration of what condition you will be in after your appointment. Will you be wanting to make it to the train and ride back to Alewife when you can get in your car and head straight home?

My last thought is maybe staying in a hotel in Cambridge or Boston the night before to avoid the stress of trying to get on the road early on the day of your appointment to make it on time but I don't know if that's feasible.
posted by eatcake at 7:19 AM on February 23, 2024

Response by poster: I used the Alewife garage today, and had no problem getting a spot at around 8:45 or 9. I’ve driven all the way in to the Storrow lot before and wanted to avoid that. MEII doesn’t validate at the MGH lot, which would make it very pricey for my half-day long appointment. Thanks all!
posted by daisyace at 4:16 PM on February 27, 2024 [1 favorite]