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…
