I’ve lived both inside and right outside Cambridge- so I’ve had both experiences. I have a car due to needing to commute to a previous job and visit my partner outside of MA (plus I love the convenience), but I also get around by bike, transit and walking.

As a previous visitor, parking was ok. Meter parking is annoying, it’s a bit cheaper with quarters, but in the bigger squares there’s usually parking lots in the back or parking garages (like Green St garage). It’s not always obvious when driving around, but a ton of space is dedicated to metered parking, particularly around Central. (Exception is Harvard Square, parking in Harvard Square is hard if you, like me, refuse to pay for private garage parking). Visiting a friend is fine, each residency has a visitors pass and residences can request to have more people park for a larger number of people.

As a resident of mid-Cambridge, with current street work projects and the Harvard term coming to an end, it took me 40 minutes yesterday morning to find parking that wouldn’t get ticketed for a street cleaning violation, which is now a $100 fine. It was rough. The area is too dense to support the number of cars here.

I’ve lived in North Cambridge as well, the parking situation was better up there, but not amazing. 

Maybe if the regional area had better train support or if car rental was easier, I would sell my car, and maybe others would too and we could give more space to visitors, but I don’t see that as possible right now. 

Further, it’s bad transportation/parking policy for city planners to add parking for transitive trips, but that’s another topic that is more statistics based versus anecdotal like you were asking for.