Looking to park cheap & take public transit to Boston

Hi,

I'll be travelling to Boston in March and since parking lots are so expensive, I thought I'd park outside the city and take the T or one of the commuter lines in.

I'm unfamiliar with the system, but I wonder if anyone can suggest somewhere I might park (somewhere that allows overnight parking), hop on a train to Boston, and then return to my car 3-4 days later.

I'll be coming across Interstate 90 from New York, so something on the way would be best.

Thanks for your help!

I-90 to I-95 north (aka Route 128) to Route 2 east. Exit to the Alewife Red Line T station, and park in the garage. $4.50 a day, I think.

There are other options but I think this one is the best.

I'm guessing you'll wind up coming in on the Mass Pike. If so, the Riverside (aka: "Grove Street") terminal off of Rt. 128 would probably be your best bet for cost vs convenience. Last time I was there the parking was reasonably cheap, but that WAS almost 3 yrs ago, and durring 4th of July weekend/holiday. The parking might even have been or be free on weekends, but don't trust my memory alone on that.
There are also commuter rail stops in (places like) Newton and Wellesley, and even as far out as Worcester, but I have no clue what parking is like out there.
Good luck!
Cosmo

for day parking...drive down beacon street, brookline between cleveland circle and coolidge corner, plenty of free street parking and ride the c line into town.

If your interested in a nice commuter rail ride.... take the train from worcester station. Bet that would be a nice ride... have yet to take the train out there.

You indicated that you want to leave your car for a few days, so I'd second Mr. Newman's recommendation of the Alewife garage. It's not hard to find, it's a quick subway ride from downtown, and it's cheap as Boston-area multi-day parking goes.

The free spaces along Beacon Street in Brookline are posted for a two hour limit, and on-street overnight parking is not permitted anywhere in Brookline.

The pay lots at suburban commuter stations aren't really set up for multi-day stays since the normal procedure is to depost money in advance, although I've heard of people stuffing multi-day payments into the envelopes for the lots that use an envelope payment rather than a meter system. Worcester might well be an exception because it's also an Amtrak stop. You might check with Amtrak as if you were planning on leaving your car there during a multi-day Amtrak trip.

Check the Commuter Rail info page for parking info. If coming in via the Mass Pike (Interstate 90), the Framingham/Worecester line would be your best choice. The stops between Worcester and Framingham have MBTA-owned parking, with a decent number of spaces. Remember that service is less frequent west of Framingham. East of there, parking may be harder to find and more expensive.

There's also route 128 station in Westwood right at exit 13 off Rte 128/95. Big arage, and it's $3 for the first 14 hours and $10 thereafter.

beacon street brookline only has a two hour limit in coolidge sq/washington sq areas....but the rest is all day. I lived there and parked there all day...

Two hour limit is for all non-metered areas in Brookline unless otherwise posted but police will usually not enforce the rule unless a resident complains.
One hour parking only between 2am-6am.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

What I'd rather do is take Amtrak and "leave the driving to us", but we'll be making other stops along the way, so thanks again for your help.

mncommuter wrote:What I'd rather do is take Amtrak and "leave the driving to us"

Uh-Oh !!!! He just quoted Greyhound Bus Lines on a railfan web-site. LOL

Darn! I got my 80's commercial jingles mixed up!

CSX Conductor wrote:

mncommuter wrote:What I'd rather do is take Amtrak and "leave the driving to us"

Uh-Oh !!!! He just quoted Greyhound Bus Lines on a railfan web-site. LOL

What's the penalty for that, 20 whacks with a rolled up timetable? lol

What I'd rather do is take Amtrak and "leave the driving to us", but we'll be making other stops along the way, so thanks again for your help.

That's even better, Amtrak will get you faster and you won't have to worry aout parking in Boston, besides it's also expensive.