Premium can mean a few things. As a noun, it could be an added amount one pays over and above a standard rate for an item or service. As an adjective, it could mean something that is far above average in quality.
The MBTA is banking on both definitions to get commuters to pay a premium for a guaranteed parking space. The T has launched a pilot program at its Braintree garage where commuters can have a spot near the entrance door of the Red Line set aside for them and them alone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The space costs $200 a month. With an average of 20 working days a month, the price is about $3 a day above the daily rate for a space that’s a couple hundred feet closer than the regular garage spots. Even if you leave your car there every day of every month of every year, weekends and holidays included, the cost is $6.58 a day, a savings of 42 cents a day.
“The target customer is anyone who wants to make an easy-to-pay monthly fee, and be GUARANTEED not only a parking space, but one that is very close to the station entrance,” T spokesman Joe Pesaturo writes in an email.
The T makes about $30 million a year from its 100 garages and lots that serve about 46,000 daily commuters. The new premium parking is “another MBTA initiative to improve customer service while generating some additional non-fare revenue,” according to Pesaturo.
As of mid-June, the premium campaign had attracted four customers willing to pay a premium for prime parking.