For a city of about 105,000 residents, Cambridge is a hotbed of parking ticket activity, 300,000 tickets were issued during the last fiscal year. A team of 33 officers and two supervisors make up Cambridge’s Department of Traffic, Parking, and Transportation, averaging about 300 tickets per day, each. Tickets in Cambridge vary in cost from $20 for parking more than one foot from a curb to $100 for parking in a handicapped-only spot.

Using Cambridge’s OpenData platform we acquired the full parking ticket history for the city of Cambridge. By analyzing this data, we determined which area throughout the city are high-risk for parking your car. Before mapping, the raw parking ticket data was cut into the desired time frame, then addresses were geocoded and checked for accuracy.  Check out the interactive map below:

The neighborhood of Mid-Cambridge amassed the most tickets during fiscal 2015 with 85,544 tickets. That's just under seven tickets per resident. The neighborhood of Cambridge Highlands received the least tickets, with only 237 tickets for its 832 residents. Strawberry Hill had the lowest tickets per capita of .2, only one ticket for every five residents.

1. Municipal Lot 5 near Central Square was the top spot with 3,284 tickets
2. 17 Quincy St was the secondmost ticketed spot with 2,560 tickets
3. The intersection of Binney St and Cardinal Medeiros Ave received 2,172 tickets
4. Technology Square near MIT picked up 2,020 tickets
5. Harvard Square, 18 Brattle St rounds out the top 5 with 1,824 tickets

Further data analysis shows clear trends in the distribution of tickets issued. Tickets tend to be issued during the early afternoon, with the most tickets being written between 8-9am and 1-3pm.  There was a clear dip around noon everyday, presumably for ticketing officers to refuel. The vast majority (65%) of tickets issued were for expired meter violations, netting the city $25 each.

As the main source of tickets in the city of Cambridge, parking meters should be paid close attention. You should be aware that tickets are issued not only for not making it back to your meter on time, but also for staying over the maximum allowed time, also known as “meter-feeding”.

Most meters throughout the city become inactive at 8pm, but don't think just because it’s 7:30pm, that you’re in the clear. A huge spike in parking activity was seen between 7-8pm, as enforcers make a final sweep for the night, as seen in the hourly graph below.

As a saving grace, after you’ve spent the week dodging meter maids, Sunday is a safe day. Fewer tickets are issued on Sundays than in any daytime hour on a weekday.