Parking meters will return to Tremont Street this fall after being absent due to construction for over a year, a city official has confirmed. Business owners on the street are excited about the development.
The delay is due to Boston’s ongoing switch to multi-space digital meters, and that the contract with the new meter vendor has not been finalized. However, when it is complete installing meters on Tremont Street will be a top priority.
“Meters are very important in a mixed-use district,” said Randi Lathrop, who serves on the Board of the South End Business Alliance. “We have multiple different businesses, from nonprofits to bricks and mortar, and even businesses on upper floors, that count on these meters. Our business community cannot survive just on residents from the South End. A lot of people come in from Boston neighborhoods and outside the city to support them. We’re happy that City Hall is working on it.”
The city completed its Tremont Street redesign project at the end of 2023. The poles for the parking meters are in place, but the meters themselves have still not been installed, which many business owners on the street have found concerning.
“Each one of those parking spots means a potential customer,” said Philip Saul, whose clothing boutique SAULT New England has a location on Tremont Street. “It means a potential person that goes in a restaurant. It's a potential client for an insurance agency. The fact that the project is 99 percent done is kind of frustrating.”
Saul also noted that because there is no enforcement of time limits, cars remain parked on the street all day, which minimizes space turnover and makes it harder for customers to find places to park.
“There’s contractors that are doing projects on the buildings around, and they’re there all day,” Saul said. “There’s a van of a restaurant that is close by. They’ll be parked there all day. There are no meter maids, because you can’t give a ticket. It creates confusion and it creates frustration.”
Lathrop contacted numerous city officials to ask about the delay.
“As you are aware, construction on the redo of Tremont Street was very challenging for our businesses,” Lathrop wrote in her email. “We are approaching a year since this project was completed and we have not seen one meter replaced. We just see the poles in place.”
In response, Boston Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge wrote that it was due to an ongoing citywide switch to digital meters, such as those found on Boylston Street. This switch requires the city to draw up a contract with a new meter vendor, which has not yet been finalized.
“Tremont Street is our top priority once we have the new vendor up and running,” Franklin-Hodge wrote.
“We expect the meters to be in place later this year,” a Boston Transportation Department (BTD) spokesperson said in a statement. “BTD will continue to provide updates to the business alliance as the exact timeline is set.”
