Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

MassHighway, Massport, MassPike, and private transit companies maintain park-and-ride lots throughout the MPO region. MassHighway and MassPike operate lots designed to encourage carpooling and vanpooling. Massport owns and operates park-and-ride lots in order to support the Logan Express bus service, which shuttles travelers from the lots to Logan Airport. Private transportation companies use park-and-ride lots to support express bus services to Boston and to other employment centers.

Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) monitored five MassHighway lots in the Boston region for a report released in 2003. The analysis compared the utilization of park-and-ride lots in Canton, Framingham, Milton, Pembroke, and Rockland in 1998 and 2001. The table below presents some results.

Only the Milton lot filled to 85 percent of capacity or more, whereas three of the lots were underutilized—defined as being where more than 50 percent of spaces remain available. The lot in Pembroke was the least utilized; it was also the only location out of the five without any transit service.

Selected MassHighway Park-and-Ride Lots: Utilization


Municipality	Lot Location	Approx. Number of Spaces	Parked Vehicles		Percent Spaces Occupied (2001)
Municipality	Lot Location	Approx. Number of Spaces	1998	2001	Percent Spaces Occupied (2001)

Canton	Route 138, north of Blue Hill River Rd.	155	39	46	30

Framingham	Route 9 at Flutie Pass (Shoppers World)	114	54	43	38

Milton	MassHighway depot, Granite Ave. at Thistle Ave. (at I-93 South, Exit 11)	58	49	56	97

Pembroke	Riverside Dr. at Route 139 (near Route 3, Exit 12)	90	6	8	9

Rockland	Route 228 at Pond St. (at Route 3, Exit 11)	450	257	258	57