New Bedford Port Authority Will ‘Void and Waive’ Whale’s Tooth Fines After Confusion

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — The New Bedford Port Authority is clearing up some confusion after some folks were surprised to find parking tickets on their vehicles after returning from riding the MBTA train to Boston at the Whale’s Tooth parking lot on Sunday.

Why Rail Riders Didn’t Think They Needed to Pay

In order to make up for some of the problems in the early weeks with staffing the Fall River-New Bedford Line, the MBTA had extended its previous program of free weekend parking at the SouthCoast stations.

However, it turns out that doesn’t apply to the Whale’s Tooth lot.

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A caller into WBSM’s SouthCoast Now with Chris McCarthy on Monday morning stated he he been parking at the Whale’s Tooth lot for the past three weekends, under the assumption that it was covered under the MBTA’s program of free parking on the weekends at South Coast Rail stations through June 1.

He said that after returning to his vehicle the first two weekends, he never received a ticket despite not paying at the pay station. However, this past Sunday, he arrived back at the station at about 3 p.m. to see “about a dozen orange tickets on vehicles,” including his own.

“I just assumed it was a City parking ticket, even though on the ticket there is no company name, city name, contact number, address, nothing – just a $50 parking ticket and a five-digit text number that I’m supposed to text my payment to,” he said.

That lack of any identifying agency also caused speculation online that the parking violations may actually not be legitimate and could be some kind of scam. However, the caller was able to verify their legitimacy.

He said he went to the City’s parking commission at the Elm Street Garage to find out more, and was referred to the New Bedford Port Authority, which owns and operates that particular lot. That agency provided him with a customer service number for XpressPark, the third-party company that collects payment, which told him they could not give him any answers as to whether or not the parking was supposed to be free, as they only collect those payments.

New Bedford Port Authority Explains Why Tickets Were Issued

WBSM reached out to the New Bedford Port Authority for clarification on the issue Monday morning, and the NBPA gave a detailed explanation as to why the Whale’s Tooth lot is no longer covered under the “free parking” program.

“Over this past weekend, the New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA) received several inquiries regarding parking and ticketing at the Whale’s Tooth Parking Lot. Much of the confusion appears to stem from parking by intercity rail riders,” John Regan, Director of Policy and External Affairs for the NBPA, told WBSM. “It is important to note that the Whale’s Tooth Parking Lot is owned and operated by the Port Authority and is not a MBTA lot.”

“The lot serves other users in addition to intercity rail passengers,” Regan said.

He said the NBPA agreed to participate in the MBTA’s free parking promotion when the rail service launched in March, but that free parking period ended on April 30.

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Because of the ongoing staffing issues with the Fall River-New Bedford Line, the MBTA extended that free weekend parking promotion through June 1 – but that only covered the Church Street Station lot in New Bedford, which the MBTA owns and operates, and not the NBPA-owned Whale’s Tooth.

“While MBTA-owned lots continued to offer free parking past April 30, the NBPA could not accommodate the extended promotion due to the beginning of ferry service,” Regan said. “The MBTA correctly notes this on its South Coast Rail website, where The Whale’s Tooth lot, also known as the New Bedford Station, is not listed among the lots with free weekend parking through June 1.”

New Bedford Port Authority Will Void and Waive Parking Fines Through May 20

Regan said that the Port Authority “recognizes that not all intercity rail users may have been aware of the expiration of the free parking promotion.”

“In an effort to address the confusion and assist passengers in getting familiar with the Downtown parking lot and station, the Port Authority will be voiding and waiving fines on all tickets issued in the Whale’s Tooth lot through Tuesday, May 20, 2025,” he said.

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How to Pay at the Whale’s Tooth Lot Going Forward

Regan pointed out that the NBPA utilizes a different text-to-pay parking system – known as “TextToPark” – as opposed to the “Pay By Phone” app used at MBTA-owned lots, such as Church Street.

“Additional signage will be placed in the lot to inform and assist users,” Regan said.