State Budget Includes $2 Per Car Charge

It's been only about a year since Massachusetts finished a $15 billion tunnel designed in part to provide better access by car to Boston's Logan International Airport. Now, Governor Deval Patrick wants to raise parking fees at the airport to as much as $7 an hour, in an effort to keep cars away and force airport patrons to use mass transit.

Included in the rate would be a $2 carbon fee. The proposal is buried on page 137 of Patrick's 140-page state budget proposal, and may be challenged by the FAA even if it passes muster with the state legislature.

While taking public transit to the airport is tough if you have young kids or checked bags, the new fee is being embraced by environmental activists, and is defended by state Transportation Secretary James Aloisi.

"It should not be inexpensive to park at convenient facilities in the middle of Logan Airport," he said. "We need people to understand that there are better ways to get to Logan."

One of the few big winners in the proposal might be Boston-Manchester Regional Airport. While it's located over the border in New Hampshire, 50 miles north of the center of the metro, the one-hour drive brings those in the know cheaper fares, and on-airport parking as cheap as $10 a day.

Some Logan fliers already shun parking at the airport altogether. Northborough resident Fay Kelley spoke to the Boston Globe as she arrived home from a trip to Florida last week.

"We never park here. It's too expensive. We take a limousine. It's cheaper than parking here and they pick you up right at your house."

FMI: www.massport.com/logan, www.mass.gov