Boston Mayor Marty Walsh hasn’t issued a shelter-in-place order for the city amid the coronavirus outbreak, but he explained Wednesday what would factor into such a decision
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has announced updated enforcement regulations and transportation services to address the needs of residents, healthcare providers and businesses amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
"During this challenging time, we're doing all we can to keep our residents healthy and safe," Walsh said in a statement. "We understand transportation is a need and concern for residents and medical professionals, and these updated policies will help everyone during this ongoing public health crisis."
The updated parking regulations are as follows, from the mayor's statement:
Resident Parking
Residents with a valid resident permit sticker will be allowed to park in a metered or two-hour parking space without having to adhere to the time limit or pay a meter fee, within their specific neighborhood.
For cars without the relevant resident permit parking sticker, standard time limit and meter requirements remain in place.
Street Cleaning
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The Boston Transportation Department has not been ticketing and towing for street cleaning, given challenges to finding alternative places to park in neighborhoods.
Inspection Stickers and Registration
BTD will not ticket for expired inspection stickers or registrations, given potential challenges for people to renew inspections and registrations at this time.
Parking Garages
To support the medical community, BTD has identified facilities offering free, reduced rate or reserved parking for medical professionals.
To receive discounted parking, medical staff will need to present a hospital ID.
To see the list of participating facilities, please click here: https://www.boston.gov/news/discounted-garages-available-hospital-staff-boston
BlueBikes
The City of Boston and its municipal partners of Brookline, Cambridge, Everett, and Somerville are offering all hospital staff a free 30-day pass for our public bike share, Bluebikes. To learn more about how to sign up for the program, visit boston.gov .
Pick Up/Drop Off Zones for Small Businesses
To help small businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19, BTD is creating temporary pick up zones in front of restaurants that have transitioned to takeout and delivery only.
Takeout food pickup zones restrict parking to five minutes to increase convenience for the quick pickup and delivery of takeout food from restaurants, and provide adequate room for social distancing of six feet or more.
Restaurants that would like to request a temporary pick up zone can do so on boston.gov. Requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
With the exception of those changes noted above, BTD will continue to enforce parking violations, with a focus on public safety violations, such as blocking a hydrant, sidewalk or handicap ramp.
Additional resources and information about COVID-19 are available on boston.gov/coronavirus.
