Logan to cut rates on holiday parking
Logan International Airport has an early Christmas present for Thanksgiving travelers: A first-of-its-kind $6 daily discount on parking in the airport's main garage for anyone who drives in between noon today and noon Saturday.
Although this is one of the busiest weeks of the year at Logan, it's also an extremely light week for parking demand. Virtually no business travelers -- who are most likely to use the main garage -- are hitting the road this week. Students and budget-minded leisure travelers, airport officials say, tend to get to Logan on the MBTA or park in one of the airport's economy lots.
In previous years, that's led to a bizarre situation with the central garage sitting three-quarters empty while cheaper economy lots were overflowing, forcing the airport to run extra shuttle buses to off-airport parking.
"It's a very peculiar travel week," said Jack Hemphill, airport business manager for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.
As a convenience for both passengers and airport officials, starting today at noon Massport will charge people entering the central garage the same $16-a-day and $96-a-week rate s as the economy lots, instead of the normal $22 daily fee for the central garage. Parking in the Terminal B garage, between American Airlines and US Airways, remains at $24 a day.
People who arrive at the central garage between noon today and noon Saturday will be charged the discounted rate for as long as they stay, even if they don't leave the garage until after Saturday afternoon.
"The rate is determined by when you pull the ticket, not when you exit," Hemphill said.
Another incentive for offering the parking discount is Logan has about 1,500 more parking spaces in service this week than at this time last year, thanks to a $220 million construction project that is scheduled to be completed by January. When done, the project will increase Logan's parking by 2,880 spaces, or nearly 25 percent.
Hemphill said airport officials had no recollection of when Massport last offered a parking discount. Massport was not able to offer time-determined parking discounts at the central garage, Hemphill said, before the Exit Express parking ticket system was installed there in July 2005. With Exit Express, patrons pay their parking fee at a kiosk near the garage elevator and drive through an automated exit, rather than waiting at the exit to pay a clerk.
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. 
