New Bedford, MA Parking Rules: Street Parking Limits (2026)

Section 23-8 of the Traffic chapter targets vehicles left in a way that gets in other people's way. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to leave any vehicle "of any description" in a street or public place so as to obstruct it, but only once the driver has been asked to move by someone who needs to use that street or public place, or ordered to move by a police officer; the obstruction becomes a violation at the point the request or order is ignored. Subsection (b) is stricter and does not require a request first: it is unlawful to obstruct or park in any fire lane established under the city's fire prevention code, and it is separately prohibited to leave a vehicle unattended in a fire lane that provides fire apparatus access to a building.

New Bedford's parking-meter article, Sections 23-30 through 23-47, supplies the city's baseline rules for legal on-street parking: Section 23-34 requires every vehicle in a metered space to sit wholly within the painted lines, Section 23-35 caps parking at the maximum time the traffic commission sets for that zone, and Section 23-40 makes a meter reading "Expired" prima facie evidence of a violation. c. 90, § 20A, rather than a locally set dollar amount.