Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Blue Line to be free during Sumner Tunnel closure

State taking steps to cut car usage during July-August shutdown

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 9, 2023

This story has been updated. WITH THE SUMNER Tunnel scheduled to close for most of July and August, state transportation officials are trying to reduce car travel in the area by making the entire Blue Line free and eliminating or reducing fares for ferries. The Blue Line in both directions will be free while the(...)

MBTA ridership hits highest level since pandemic began

Commuter rail and bus do best; subway system is worst

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Jun 8, 2023

RIDERSHIP ON THE MBTA in March reached its highest level since the pandemic began, with the slow-zone-plagued subway system the laggard among the various modes of travel. Total ridership reached 68 percent of pre-pandemic levels in March, led by commuter rail (80 percent of pre-pandemic levels), bus (79 percent), and ferry (64 percent). Ridership on(...)

With GLX a wrap, Dalton eyes Hudson River tunnel

‘It’s what I do,’ he says of massive infrastructure projects

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Jun 2, 2023

JOHN DALTON, the man who steered the very challenging Green Line extension to the finish line in Boston, is taking his talents to New York City and one of the biggest and most important infrastructure projects in the country. Dalton has been named senior project director for the Gateway Trans-Hudson Partnership, which seeks to build a(...)

T officials urge riders to be patient

Predict it will be at least a year before change is evident

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments Jun 1, 2023

THE GENERAL MANAGER of the MBTA and two members of the agency’s board of directors indicated on Thursday that positive change is coming at the transit authority but it won’t be visible to riders any time soon. In a virtual Q&A session, MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, T board chair Thomas Glynn, and T board(...)

Eng sees FTA letter as no big deal

Chose not to mention letter to MBTA board last week

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 30, 2023

ON MAY 19, the Federal Transit Administration emailed a letter to top officials at the MBTA telling them a plan the agency developed for addressing the safety of workers performing repairs in and around subway tracks was “insufficient” and had to be redone. The letter was sent to MBTA General Manager Phillips Eng, six of(...)

Eng touts ‘forward progress’ in removing MBTA slow zones

GM says 66 speed restrictions have been lifted since April

By Jennifer Smith MBTA, slow zones, speed restrictions 0 Comments May 25, 2023

THE MBTA IS targeting slow zones that would most impact daily commutes as it chugs along on completing track replacements and lifting speed restrictions. General Manager Phillip Eng touted “forward progress” at an MBTA board meeting on Thursday, saying 66 speed restrictions across the system have been lifted in April and May. That leaves 204(...)

Like Goldilocks, Glynn trying to fashion ‘just right’ T board

Says governor wants an activist, proactive panel

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments May 22, 2023

WHEN “SNOWMAGEDDON,” an unprecedented succession of blizzards, shut the MBTA down in 2015, Beacon Hill created a five-person Fiscal and Management Control Board to right the organization. Control was the operative word in the board’s name, and led, at least initially, to long, weekly meetings delving into all aspects of the organization. The board brought badly(...)

‘Red flags’ in budget worry MBTA Advisory Board

Report raises concerns about ridership, possibility of fare hike

By Chris Lisinski MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 18, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CITIES AND TOWNS that help fund the MBTA are concerned it will be “impossible” to restore pre-pandemic service levels and that the agency might need to hike fares given the growing shadow of a budget shortfall that officials so far have failed to address. The MBTA Advisory Board, a group that(...)

Commuter rail ridership, once dismal, continues to grow

Keolis experiment would extend $10 weekend fare to holidays

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 16, 2023

COMMUTER RAIL ridership continues to grow, suggesting more people are returning to work downtown and finding on-time rail service an attractive option. Average weekday ridership on the commuter rail system at the start of the pandemic in May 2020 fell to a ghost-train level of 2,724 passengers. It started an upward trend a year later(...)

New T board members set different tone

Ask more questions, may extend length of meetings

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments May 12, 2023

THE MBTA BOARD under new chair Tom Glynn is going to be different, judging from the way three subcommittees of the board handled themselves on Thursday. Right from the start, board members were peppering T staffers with questions, demanding more information, and offering suggestions on ways to improve operations. It was a marked contrast from(...)