Salem Halloween 2023: More Free Shuttle Service Added Ahead Of Holiday

SALEM, MA — The city of Salem will add additional shuttle services from a free satellite lot at Salem High School to downtown ahead of the Halloween night celebrations in an effort to limit traffic and alleviate parking concerns.

The city, which has run the shuttles from Salem Hospital, Salem High School and Salem State University to Riley Plaza on weekends since the end of September, will now offer those shuttles from the Salem High School lot only on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 as well.

Salem Public Schools have both Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 off from classes this year as part of a "Halloween break."

The three lots combined have served more than 1,300 parking spots away from the downtown area.

MBTA and city officials earlier this month announced that they were increasing train frequency to two trains per hour to and from Salem during October with additional service both to Boston and north to Beverly. There were planned 10 more inbound trains daily from Salem to North Station, with at least 10 trains after 6 p.m.

There were also to be eight additional outbound trains from North Station to Salem, and seven more outbound trains from Salem to Beverly.

Salem Ferry capacity is also increased from 150 passengers per boat to one that can carry up to 600 passengers.

Officials continue to implore visitors — which can number more than 100,000 on weekends and on Halloween itself — not to drive downtown because of extensive parking restrictions, traffic and parking garages that fill up early each morning.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)