yk

Hi fellow Bostonians-

Does anyone know about parking situation along the D line of the Green line on Saturdays?

I have been parking on the street near Newton Corner on Sundays and take the T into the city for the day. But that won't work for Saturdays because the meters are in effect.

I know there is parking at Riverside and Woodland stations - but how do they work? Do I have to pay on Saturdays? Is the parking only limited to people who have a parking pass?

We're planning to go to the MFA on Saturday morning - so the plan is to drive to a stop on D line, leave the car there, take the T to Fenway stop and walk to MFA. If you have any other better ideas, pls do tell.

escargot

If you go to mbta.com and click on subway and then green line, scroll down until you see the line you are inquiring about and to the right of each station is all the info about parking, how many spaces, prices, etc, etc !

Have a great time at the museum -

yk

Hi escargot-

I had already looked at the mbta website. It lists how many parking spaces are available and the parking rate, but doesn't mention anything about weekends ~ I suppose they charge the same for parking on weekends? The Parking lots are managed by Central Parking, but when I clicked on their website, I can't find the info I needed either.

So I'm hoping someone who actually know the ins and outs of it.

china_cat

theres quite a lot of parking at Riverside, and you do have to pay on Saturdays. It is not limited to people who have passes.

socialworker

Good advice to search on mbta.com........both riverside station and woodland have public parking which require payment 7 days/week. Woodland is a garage that requires payment upon leaving. Riverside is a large open area that, I believe,---but I could be wrong---requires you to put your money into boxes marked with the parking space number----the same system as the Chestnut Hill and Eliot parking lots have.

socialworker

PS--no permits required for parking and Woodland always has lots of space, altho I would not count on that if there is a Red Sox day game, so check the schedule for that.

yk

Thanks for all your replies.

I meant to type Newton Center, not Newton Corner, in my original post.

I guess we'll drive to either Woodland or Riverside station then.

Adding the cost of T plus parking, I think it'll still be cheaper than parking at the MFA.

yk

Oh, this Sat is a home game at night. We should be okay as we're planning to go at 10am when the doors open.

Ralphie

I agree with Woodland or Riverside.

However, I'm going to be a devil's advocate and recommend driving all the way to the museum *IF* you've got say, four or more people in your vehicle. Round trip fare x 4 plus parking is probably more than the parking rate at one of the garages near the museum.

socialworker

Ralphie makes a good point. Parking at the MFA is ~$25 and the T fares +parking will be about the same. If you take the T, you have the option of going to other parts of the city, knowing that you can get back any time up to midnight or so (except for the factor of the fans leaving Fenway), whereas if you are in the MFA lot, you are limited to whatever time they close the lot.

socialworker

Of course that is based on 4 people. Fewer makes the T win for best price!

yk

Okay folks, it's just gonna be the 2 of us. And we may go somewhere after the MFA, or may not. It's better not to have the car in the city and worry about what to do with it.

escargot

sorry yk, I was away from desk all day - I didn't know from personal experience, glad you found those who
could help more ! enjoy the exhibits, the el Greco, etc is amazing !

yk

hi escargot-
Have you already been to the El Greco exhibit? Did you like it? Was it crowded?

escargot

The exhibits (Garcia/ Greco) were wonderful - I went during the week, so hard to say what crowds you may encounter on a Saturday - but I think all in all the MFA does a great job with the timed tickets entries and that helps - do you already have your tix for Greco? If not, you may want to do that sooner than later - it is easy to do online at mfa.org -

yk

I'm not planning to get advance tickets... Since this weekend is the beginning of the Bank of America promotion, I believe we can get in (regular admission) for free, and we'll just have to pay the "exhibition fee."

Did you get the audioguide?

escargot

yes but I am an audio guide person - I love to be able to stop, re-listen, skip, etc - I wish I remembered more from my art history classes, but I sadly do not remember as much as I wish I did !

Enjoy -

escargot

I don't know how the Bank promotion works, but I would leave myself some wiggle time - only because for discussion sake, if you get there at 11am and they have sold out for the 12, 1 and 2pm entries, and yuo have to wait until 3pm for an entry exhibition ticket you might want to use that time to see other things in museum, eat at museum, etc or in fact, go elsewhere for lunch and return at your entry time...

so I would just start early enough, you just never know - I have been there on weekends when people were turned away during the last Napoleon exhibit, but frankly I can't remember if that might have been one of the last weekends it was around, and this exhibit is here until July I think.

yk

Thanks for the tips. Our goal is to get there at 10am. I just called the box office to inquire about the BoA promo - we will get free general admission and then pay $6pp for the "upgrade" ticket for the special exhibit. Really good deal when you consider the exhibition ticket is $23 (+$3.50 online booking fee).

I'll probably check the online booking the night before - if all the morning slots for Sat are sold out, we might have to go on a different day.

MarieF

We went to the Hopper exhibit at the MFA last summer - went on Saturday and got tickets for one of the last times at the end of the day. I don't know if that's an option for you but we found that it was a little crowded when we started but the crowds really thinned out as we went through. It worked out well for us.