What a Boston Street Cleaning Tow Actually Costs

A lot of people in Boston are living somewhere new in September, and the street sweeping sign is the one they find late, usually the morning the car isn’t where they left it. The City publishes all of it with the fine amounts attached, so I pulled this off boston.gov.

Who tows the car, and for how much

The Transportation Department handles ticketing for street sweeping, and private companies working for the Transportation Department do the towing. Those companies charge under the state’s rate schedule for towing motor vehicles: $132 for the tow, $35 for each day they store your car, and a fuel surcharge you look up on the state’s website. The City also runs its own tow lot on Frontage Road at its own rates, so the first step is looking up your plate to find out which one has the car.

What the ticket costs

Street Cleaning is a $40 fine with a $13 late penalty. The City’s fine table carries two more street cleaning violations at $90 with a $30 late penalty. One of them is named Overnight Street Cleaning (no tow). The other is Street Cleaning in Charlestown. The posted sign is what tells you which rule you’re parked under, so read it before you decide the block is safe. Either way, pay or appeal within 21 days or the late penalty is added.

When the program runs

The Daytime Street Cleaning Program runs from April 1 to November 30 in most Boston neighborhoods. Daytime sweeping continues into the winter in the North End, South End and Beacon Hill, where the program stops on December 31 and starts up again on March 1. The Nighttime Street Cleaning Program runs all year on main roads, arterials and commercial roads. If a posted sign lists no months at all, the parking restriction is in place year-round.

The fifth week, and the rain

Streets cleaned every week are also cleaned on the fifth week of the month. If your street is cleaned every other week, parking restrictions aren’t enforced in the fifth week. Rain doesn’t get you out of it either. The City doesn’t always cancel sweeping for it, and says light rain actually helps the sweepers. Check with 311 for cancellations. On some City holidays daytime sweeping is suspended but night sweeping still runs, and some streets are swept at night on weekends.

The No-Tow email reminder

Search your street in the City’s street sweeping database. Once you find it, you get the option to sign up for the No-Tow reminder service by email. If the website or the email is different from the posted street sweeping sign, obey the posted sign. If you can’t find your street, try a partial spelling, and if it still isn’t there, ask the City to add it.

Moving into Greater Boston this fall and trying to sort out parking? Send me the address and I’ll tell you what the street looks like. Diana Kim, REALTOR®, eXp Realty.