MBTA Riders In Quincy Frustrated With Lack Of Parking Due To Construction

QUINCY (CBS) - Commuters in Quincy are growing frustrated over construction efforts at several MBTA stations in the city. The latest inconvenience is at the North Quincy Station, where the MBTA closed off approximately 600 of the 1200 available parking stations on Monday.

The closed-off section of the parking lot is under construction for a multi-use facility including luxury apartments and a parking garage. That garage will include the same number of parking spots typically available to commuters when completed, but in the meantime, they have to find alternate methods.

Some are parking at nearby stations, like Wollaston, which has a reduced parking rate of $2 instead of $5, since the station itself is shut down and riders have to take shuttles to nearby stops.

Others are settling for a longer day. "I used to get here at 8 o'clock in the morning," regular rider Steven Lee told WBZ. "Now it's basically getting here at 4 or 5 in the morning [to get a spot]." He said he feels the MBTA did a poor job in communicating the coming changes.

MBTA Deputy General Manager told WBZ he understands his customers "concerns, and frankly, their frustrations right now," and said the MBTA is doing everything it can to ease the burden of inconvenience.

The parking issue was one discussed by commuters at an MBTA meeting in Quincy Wednesday night. Another popular topic for complaint was the MBTA's proposed rate hikes in July 2019.

Riders told WBZ and MBTA officials they are frustrated by the idea of paying more money before perceived unreliability issues are fixed. "It's a mess," said rider Marissa Simons. "You never know what's going to happen every day. You could be 45 minutes late or be on time, you never know. It's just unreliable."

The parking lot project at the North Quincy Station is expected to be finished in 18 months.