The Boston Globe reported this morning that,
In the same month that Logan International Airport hiked its parking rates by $1, Governor Deval Patrick is asking for another $2 parking “carbon fee” as part of his transportation overhaul filed this week.
The carbon fee, described on page 137 of Patrick’s 141-page bill, would that mean a 20- or 30-minute trip to pick up a relative at Logan could cost $6 in parking alone, not including tunnel tolls, which could rise to as much as $7 if legislators fail to pass Patrick’s other proposal to raise the gas tax. Three hours in a Logan garage would cost $18; all-day parking in a garage would run $26…
“It makes me never want to park here,” said Pam Nagy of Sutton, who was hauling luggage into Logan on Friday.
Patrick’s transportation secretary, James A. Aloisi Jr., said he will be glad if people stop parking at the airport and use public transportation to get there, a sentiment that has led several environmental groups to endorse the parking fee.
“It should not be inexpensive to park at convenient facilities in the middle of Logan Airport,” Aloisi said. “We need people to understand that there are better ways to get to Logan.”
He wants the parking fee – which requires approval from the Legislature – to be used for improvements to airport-related transit projects, including a proposal to build a new tunnel under South Boston to speed up the Logan-bound Silver Line bus service, and the initial phases of a long-term plan to build a transit loop around the city. Based on Logan’s most recent parking figures, the new fee would probably raise about $5.4 million per year.
But many who travel to the airport come with bulky luggage or young children, making public transit a harder sell, if not an impossibility.
Ben Kaplan pulling a cart piled high with luggage and accompanied by his wife and two young sons, said taking public transit would be tough for his family. “We’d be more likely to take a cab,” he said…
Will Gov. Patrick be taking public transit or will he continue to be driven in his $51,000 taxpayer-provided, CO2-spewing SUV?
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