IN ANNOUNCING the shutdown of subway service running through the tunnels underneath the Government Center parking garage, the MBTA laid out ways for riders to get where they need to go but ultimately concluded the smart move may be not getting on the T at all. “Because of expected delays as buses navigate downtown streets, […]
Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl oversees the production of content and edits reports, along with carrying out his own reporting with a particular focus on transportation, energy, and climate issues.
He previously worked at the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper.
Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Posted inTransportation
MBTA ridership rebounding, particularly on commuter rail
MBTA PASSENGER LEVELS, which took a hit earlier this year when COVID levels shot up, have recovered their lost ground and appear to be picking up steam, particularly on the commuter rail system. Commuter rail ridership a year ago was just 11.6 percent of pre-COVID levels. Passenger levels rose a bit in the last half […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA in no big rush on electrification
THE MBTA is pushing ahead with electrification, but on its own terms. Transit advocates, climate activists, and many lawmakers are pushing the T to ditch its diesel buses and quickly embrace battery electric buses. They are also pressing the transit authority to start electrifying commuter rail lines, particularly those running through environmental justice communities, and […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA shutting down chunk of Blue Line 13 days
THE MBTA is preparing to take a large chunk of its busiest subway line out of service for 13 days starting April 2 to replace 1,800 feet of track and perform tunnel repairs. The shutdown on the Blue Line will affect an estimated 25,000 riders on weekdays and require them to take shuttle buses to […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker’s $4,000 employer hiring bonus called ‘deeply misguided’
ONE OF THE STATE’S leading policy analysts is raising alarms about a proposal put forward by Gov. Charlie Baker to give nonprofit and for-profit businesses a $4,000 stipend for each new employee they hire through the end of the year. The $50 million program, funded using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, is designed to […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker offering employers $4,000 for each worker hired
FRUSTRATED AT the disconnect in Massachusetts between available jobs and available employees, the Baker administration is offering for-profit and non-profit employers $4,000 for each new worker they hire this year. The goal of the HireNow program is to give employers an incentive to recruit and train workers who they normally would not bring in for an […]
Posted inUncategorized
Scrap metal operation shuts down in Somerset
AT AROUND 7 p.m. Monday night, the clanging sound of scrap metal being loaded onto a ship at Brayton Point in Somerset appeared to come to a halt. According to neighbors, Eastern Metal Recycling filled a waiting ship to the brim with scrap metal and then began to shut down the operation, complying with a […]
Posted inTransportation
Capuano praises Baker on GLX — and says he voted for him
FORMER CONGRESSMAN Michael Capuano paid tribute to Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday at an event marking the launch of service on the Green Line extension to Somerville — and the lifelong Democrat revealed that he voted for the Republican in 2014. Capuano said he got his chance to secure $1 billion in federal funding for […]
Posted inTransportation
GLX opening a major achievement for the T
THE MBTA on Monday opens the Green Line extension to Somerville, a milestone for the T’s riders but perhaps an even greater achievement for the T itself. Six years ago, the MBTA was an agency teetering on the edge of irrelevancy in crisis. It was struggling to bounce back from the Snowmageddon of 2015, which […]
Posted inTransportation
Wu, MBTA each put own spin on fare-free bus results
IN THE POLICY BATTLE over fare-free transit service, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the MBTA are portraying the same data in very different ways. The T kicked off the discussion at a February board meeting, releasing an analysis of the Route 28 fare-free bus experiment as part of a larger presentation on alternative fare approaches. […]