Seaport parking lot near South Boston waterfront

Credit: New Boston Post

Self-driving cars are getting airtime on talk shows and in the news.  On a recent broadcast experts believe we will see integration of them by 2036, yes 20 years.  When they do arrive, I can only imagine that cars will be able to self-park in much tighter spaces and when we wish to leave we will simply “Uber” our own car and select a pickup location.  What happens between 2016 and 2036 is the challenge.  Perhaps Boston should look at London as an example and tax cars coming into the city during peak hours.

A recent article on New Boston Post notes, “when the Boston Redevelopment Authority closed the garage, ostensibly for engineering reviews, it took the best parking deal downtown away from long-suffering Hub commuters who paid just $20 a day for one of its 435 spaces. Only a few years earlier, it was even cheaper – and this in a neighborhood where the average daily rate was close to $40 even in 2013…Boston currently has spaces for 2,310 cars and the plan approved by the BRA in January will end up eliminating half of those spaces, cutting the number available to the public to fewer than 600.”

You can read more on the New Boston Post.