radiowell

Hi all. If I want to save money on parking and get to BOS by subway/shuttle, which of the following stations (with overnight parking) do you feel is the best option? As far as I know, you can do the following:

Alewife: Red -> Silver 1 (and free on reverse direction, correct?)

Wellington: Orange -> Blue -> Shuttle

Wonderland: Blue -> Shuttle

Time/distance-wise, it looks like Wonderland/Blue is the winner, but I am more concerned with parking availability/safety or other details that may not be "advertised" but you all know through your experience. If you can share any insights, I'd appreciate it very much.

(As you can tell, I will be starting from the Northern suburbs, so Braintree and others are out. Also, Anderson/Woburn is a good options for me as well, but there may be times I'd rather take the subway than spend more $ on Logan Express).

Thanks.

lo2e

You're correct that the Silver Line is free inbound from any terminal at the airport, and you get a free transfer to the Red Line at South Station (and free transfers to any of the other lines too at other stops).

I've never parked at Alewife or Wonderland, but I have parked at Wellington and felt it was very safe and secure. It's actually my preferred choice for parking when going into downtown Boston on the T, but it's also the least convenient of the three stations you listed for going to BOS.

radiowell

Thank you for the response, lo2e. Yes, I've heard many good things about the Wellington station, and sounds like you confirmed it too.

Here's more detail. I've parked at Alewife before, and it's perfectly fine. But a couple of things that annoy me are (1) they warn that you can only park there 7 days or less and (2) sometimes finding a space is a challenge, even though the parking garage is humongous.

Since Wellington and Wonderland station parking lots are smaller (as far as I know), my first concern was space and availability.

Also, I heard that for overnight parking at Wonderland, you have to prepay with attendant collecting money as you enter. Is this still true? Obviously, this could be a problem if your plans change.

I just want to compare the options, and see if anyone has any experience and share whatever he/she can.

CKDGM

Wellington's parking is a LONG way from the station -- there used to be a people-mover but now it's a 230 m covered walkway. This probably isn't a showstopper but if you have a lot of luggage it'll add to the hassle factor.

radiowell

Thanks for the tip! More inputs from others would be great (not just for me, but for the "lurkers" looking for information).

VidaNaPraia

Iirc most forum discussions about long term parking at Wellington talk about the garage at adjacent Station Landing.

Yahtzee

Can't really help. I'm a red line person generally and that also involves the fewest changes to I'd be inclined to Alewife. That said, not extremely convenient coming from the north unless you can loop around 128 at a non-traffic time.

babeavs13

Technically, I don't believe you are supposed to park in any T lots overnight. I know I left my car a few times when I was younger at a T lot and simply had to pay the next days parking fare via a little envelope they left on my car. If you are leaving the car for multiple nights I'm not sure if you would get the same treatment or if they tow. I'd check out the rules before doing this.

Logan express is typically what I would recommend via Woburn as I believe you'd have to pay for parking each day you are in the T lot at the least.

radiowell

I appreciate the contribution to the discussion. Thank you.

To address some of the issues raised...

Fortunately, I picked the 3 stations because they explicitly allow overnight parking.

http://mbta.com/riding_the_t/parking...t.asp?id=25317

That said, I mentioned before that some stations only allow 7 days or less parking. I know that it is true at Alewife.

Also, luckily, access to Alewife is not too bad for me. In fact, Wellington station gives me the easiest access but the most inconvenient transfer to Logan, whereas Wonderland station is the hardest to get to (times and distance wise) but may provide the most convent transfer to Logan (which leaves Alewife to somewhere in the middle). So the trade-offs are clear. I don't want to get into a full-blown cost-benefit analysis, but some might find it fun.

Regarding Logan Express, yes, that should be my first choice, but I just wanted to explore more options. I even bought the 10-ride tix for $75, which I figured gave me the cheapest fare ($7.50 vs $12 oneway ticket).

I saw that a thread about lamenting the parking cost at BOS popped up. May be this current thread could be useful after all.

octr202

This is definitely a helpful discussion here. I never even thought of parking at Wellington (which is easiest for me from home - willing to put up with the transfer Orange/Blue for the convenience. It's also slightly cheaper than Alewife and a lot cheaper than Wonderland.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 7 day maximum applies to all MBTA overnight parking? There's no info regarding the time limit on individual station pages.

lo2e

Agreed - I've gone and put a link to this thread in the New England Master Thread under BOS Information for anyone else looking for similar information. Thanks!

octr202

Dredging up an old thread here...

Used Wellington for the first time today (thanks to the non-functionality of commuter rail, having to find other options to get to work). Is the overnight parking in the MBTA parking lots on the east side of the station, or in the Station Landing garage? I went for the garage today and didn't see anything saying overnight parking was permitted, nor not permitted. Anyone know which side of this sprawling complex has the overnight area?

lo2e

I'm purely guessing, but I'd say it must be the parking lot on the east side, which is owned by MBTA. The garage is owned by Station Landing, so I doubt overnighting is allowed there.

xSTRIKEx6864

From the North you may want to try Logan Express. Woburn location is very near to where where I-93/I-95 meet. $7/day parking.

http://www.massport.com/logan-airpor...logan-express/

octr202

I know Anderson's Logan Express well, as I often use commuter rail from there. On this trip I'm actually taking Amtrak (I know, I didn't think to post that in my first response, ooops!), so Logan Express would be the longer way around. I'd be inclined to use Anderson and just take commuter rail into the city if these were normal times, but I don't really have confidence in the one Saturday morning train showing up on time. Also figuring a crowded mid-week return train at rush hour would be awful too.

I suppose that leaving on a Saturday morning would make Alewife a reasonable option as well since that won't be full at that hour. I usually think of Alewife as perpetually full.

I'm just one of many people scrambling to come up with other plans while the commuter rail system falls apart. Becoming way more familiar with the Orange Line than I would otherwise care to.