Street Cleaning In Boston Neighborhoods Begins: What To Know

BOSTON — With the beginning of April comes the start of the street sweepers. Put an alert on your phone and watch where you park so you don't get a ticket — or worse — towed.

The street sweepers start cleaning the streets from April 1 to November 30 in most Boston neighborhoods and operate on a rotating schedule. Check the posted street sweeping signs on your street for the schedule and parking restrictions. They're usually different and depend on what side of the street you're parked on. Pro tip: If your street gets swept every other week you won't have to worry about a fifth week.

If you live in the North End, South End or Beacon Hill, you've been back at it since March.

The sweepers operate weather-permitting. During the winter, street cleaning and parking restrictions are nighttime-only except in the North End, the South End, and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.

Signs for both day and night sweeping are posted in your neighborhood, with a minimum of one per block, and indicate the days and hours that parking is not allowed. Residential streets are typically swept during the day program. Main arterials and the downtown areas are swept in the night program.

What happens if you get towed?

A street sweeping violation will get you towed, and probably a $40 ticket in most spots. If you're worried about getting your car towed, you can sign up for the city's No Tow program which will email you the night before your neighborhood's streets are swept.

In 2018, the city decided to no longer tow cars and trucks parked in violation of the city's posted overnight street cleaning program, where street cleaning begins at or after midnight and ends no later than 7 a.m.. You still risk getting a ticket, though. A hefty $90 ticket.

The city still has cars and trucks towed in places where street cleaning happens during the day. Those cars face a fine of $40 and are subject to towing by a private contractor - which means a heftier fine on top of that ticket:

• $108 for the tow
• $35 for each day they store your car, and check the fuel charge factor on the state's website.

On City holidays, Boston suspends street sweeping during the day, but will still sweep streets at night.

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• Fines For Parking Tickets In Boston Just Went Up: What To Know