Boston is at an exciting crossroads.

The city is experiencing a development boom and economic centers like the South Boston Waterfront and Longwood are continuing to grow significantly. These two areas alone are expected to generate at least 25 million square feet in new development by 2035. This growth will bring new jobs and increased opportunity for the region’s businesses and workforce alike. However, this new economic activity also presents challenges from a transportation standpoint and forces us to think in new and innovative ways about how we can improve access and mobility for both residents and visitors. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and his administration recently launched key initiatives designed to do just that, including Go Boston 2030 and Imagine Boston 2030. These citywide plans will help shape a new approach to keep our city a vibrant place for all of the people that come to Boston to live, work and play.

The mayor is also to be commended for confronting head on one of the more vexing challenges that confronts major cities – parking. With advances in mobile data, smart meter technology and real-time availability, the time is ripe for moving our parking policies into the 21st century. These innovations allow us to explore new ways to reduce congestion, free up availability and reduce the frequent frustration drivers feel when they have to waste their time circling the block yet again for a space. The city is currently conducting a comprehensive review of its approach to parking, and A Better City is pleased to be a partner in this effort.

As this review progresses, the mayor recently announced that the city will explore demand-based pricing for parking meters in select areas of the city. This has the potential to offer drivers significant time savings and to reduce the congestion caused by lengthy searches for spaces. Parking meter pricing in Boston is currently fixed at $1.25 per hour throughout the entire city. This rate is much lower than our peer cities across the country. For example, Los Angeles charges $4 per hour, while tiered prices in New York City can be as high as $5 per hour, depending on the location and time of day. Our off-street spaces are priced at market rates, which can be more than 10 times higher than the rate for on-street parking.

While our relatively cheap meters sound like a good deal, these low rates can have unintended consequences. The lower price point encourages some to feed meters, decreasing turnover, while encouraging others to drive around searching for the elusive low-priced parking spaces. At busy times of day, when most spaces are full, this exacerbates already high levels of traffic congestion.

Many of our peer cities have learned that demand responsive pricing can help reduce wait times and can even reduce the price of parking in some places. A pilot project in San Francisco was found to have reduced average time spent searching for a space by 43 percent. Moreover, while high-demand areas such as Fisherman’s Wharf could cost as much as $6 per hour, the average meter rates across the city actually dropped 11 cents per hour. The technology deployed in this pilot also provides drivers with real-time occupancy information. If Boston were to undertake a similar initiative, the new revenue generated could also be used to fund streetscape and other neighborhood improvements, a common practice in parts of Colorado and California.

The mayor is taking a methodical and prudent approach to these new proposals in order to ensure that Boston’s version of these initiatives is the right fit for our needs. The business community appreciates his leadership and efforts to bring Boston’s approach to parking into the 21st century.