Framingham MBTA Parking
A quick update to the availability of parking at the Framingham MBTA parking lot. Six months after the MBTA raised the commuter rail rates, are commuters avoiding taking the commuter rail?
Answer: No. It appears that more and more commuters are going back to using the commuter rail as their preferred method to get to Boston. This isn't just true at the Framingham stop. By the time the train leaves the Natick stop, some of the commuters are standing for the duration of their trip. (Note: There are seats available, but some people usually don't want to sit in the middle seat.)
As for parking spaces, I have made the follow observation during my morning commute, while taking the 8:15 train; in December, I noticed that there were about 15 empty parking spaces. Today I noticed that there were only 5 empty parking spaces. Note: The 8:15 train is usually the last busy morning commuter train as it gets to Back Bay by 9am.
If your considering parking at the Framingham MBTA station, your best bet would be to get their early. Usually your best best is to forget about the Waverly parking and check the parking near Franklin Street. If the MBTA parking lot is full, you should look into the town parking garage on Pearl Avenue. The parking garage is about 4 blocks away and cost $4 to park all day.
The MBTA could add an additional 5 parking spaces by allowing customers to park in front of a fence that never opens and removing the handicap parking spaces. There's already enough handicap spaces by the spaces near Waverly Street where handicap users would most likely park.