Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Baker talks up his transportation-funding approach

Presses cap-and-invest program with 12 states, DC

By Bruce Mohl Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 11, 2019

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday outlined for the business community a proposal to address climate change and raise money for transportation in a way that he believes is far superior to other tax and fee measures circulating on Beacon Hill. His plan is called TCI, which is short for transportation climate initiative. It’s a plan(...)

Smoke, sparks at Park Street

Incident occurred day after report on lax safety culture

By Andy Metzger fire, Green Line, MBTA, Park Street, smoke 0 Comments Dec 10, 2019

JUST A DAY after a devastating safety report that excoriated the culture at the MBTA, passengers documented dramatic sparks and smoke on the Green Line at Park Street. No one was injured in the incident that occurred just before noon Tuesday, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo, but northbound service was shuttered and an acrid(...)

T notes: Fairmount pilot likely to make cut

Four demonstration bus projects proposed

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 9, 2019

THE MBTA IS WINNOWING down the number of pilot projects it plans to launch next year, and a proposal for the Fairmount commuter rail line appears to have made the cut. The proposal from the city of Boston would add four additional inbound and outbound trips at a total cost of $1.2 million. Officials estimate(...)

T changes course on fare system upgrade

New phased-in approach has costs and benefits

By Andy Metzger AFC 2.0, Charlie card, Charlie ticket, fare, MBTA 0 Comments Dec 9, 2019

HAVING MISCALCULATED THE needs of its riders and the capabilities of its vendor, the MBTA has adopted a new approach to overhauling its fare collection system that will take longer to complete, cost more, but result in a better and more reliable product, officials say. Rather than the all-at-once, make-or-break transition dubbed a “big bang”(...)

Safety culture lacking at the MBTA

Panel offers scathing assessment of transit operations

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 9, 2019

A CULTURE OF SAFETY is lacking at the MBTA, according to a scathing report by three outside experts that blamed management turnover, misplaced priorities, and a workplace that inhibits frank communications and analysis about operational problems. While Gov. Charlie Baker has focused on increasing capital spending at the transit authority and lawmakers and activists have(...)

Straus targets Pollack, d’Arbeloff on RMV

New documents shed light on Registry issues

By Andy Metzger Transportation 0 Comments Dec 5, 2019

ON TELEVISION Wednesday night, Rep. William Straus laid the blame for lapses within the Registry of Motor Vehicles at the feet of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and Mindy d’Arbeloff, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. The House chairman of the Transportation Committee told Greater Boston’s Jim Braude that Pollack and d’Arbeloff had ample opportunity to(...)

T control board meeting less than law requires

Chair says fewer sessions in best interest of the authority

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 4, 2019

OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board has been holding fewer meetings than the law requires. The state law creating the control board requires it to meet “not less than 3 times a month,” but since July the board has met three times in a month only once. Overall, the(...)

Spotlight congestion investigation was McGrory’s idea

Faneuil Hall panel discussion suggests public consensus elusive

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 3, 2019

A clarification has been added to this story. BRIAN MCGRORY, the editor of the Boston Globe, said it was his idea for the newspaper’s Spotlight Team to launch an investigation of congestion in and around Boston and what to do about it. Speaking at a Faneuil Hall event focused on the Spotlight Team’s three-part series,(...)

To balance its budget, T to seek additional funds

Control board expected to vote on request later this month

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 3, 2019

IN A SIGN OF MOUNTING pressures on the MBTA’s operating budget, the Fiscal and Management Control Board is preparing to take a portion of a legislative appropriation that had been set aside for capital projects and use the money to cover the authority’s rising expenses. In and of itself, the shift of funds would not(...)

Putting multiple transport options at your fingertips

With Mobility as a Service, usership could replace ownership

By Jonathan Bray Transportation 0 Comments Dec 1, 2019

IT’S OFTEN DUBBED the Netflix of transport by its advocates for bringing together multiple transport and mobility choices into a single, digital platform which users can either purchase via subscription packages or on a pay-as-you-go basis. Its supporters herald it as the solution to a host of transport challenges within our cities. But can Mobility(...)