Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T notes: Half-price reverse commute fare to Foxboro

Big time savings for Silver Line buses using Seaport ramp

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Sep 16, 2019

THE MBTA INTENDS to begin testing commuter rail service between Boston and Foxboro starting October 21, complete with a half-price fare for people who reverse commute to the suburb. The normal one-way fare between Foxboro, which is in zone 4, and Boston, which is in zone 1A, is $8.75. The T plans to test whether(...)

MBTA: Weakened steel ring led to June derailment

Discovery has led to more stringent inspections

By Andy Metzger MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Sep 16, 2019

This story has been edited to include additional comments made after the findings were first disclosed. A BRITTLE STEEL AXLE on the front of the third car of a 50-year-old Red Line train snapped on June 11, according to engineers who on Monday disclosed their findings about the cause of the subsequent derailment that has(...)

Universal congestion pricing is the way to go

Rideshare accounts for 8% of VMT in Suffolk County

By Tyler George Transportation 0 Comments Sep 15, 2019

MASSACHUSETTS LIVES and breathes as the Commonwealth of firsts. From the Mayflower to the continent’s first subway system, this state knows what groundbreaking transportation looks like. While we have accomplished many firsts, Massachusetts transportation seems to be at a standstill. In recent months, there’s been much conversation (and ire) about the MBTA and transportation woes(...)

Pollack’s comment on HOV lane anecdotal

Most recent research suggests far fewer violators

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments Sep 12, 2019

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Stephanie Pollack is famous for her love of data, but it appears she went with anecdotal evidence on Tuesday when she told local officials that 80 to 90 percent of the cars using a high occupancy vehicle lane on I-93 heading into Boston from the north have only one person in the vehicle.(...)

TransitMatters: South Station expansion unnecessary

Quicker train ‘turns’ would eliminate need for more tracks

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Sep 12, 2019

THE ADVOCACY GROUP TransitMatters says a number of relatively simple changes in commuter rail operations could increase the number of trains moving in and out of South Station and make a planned $2.5 billion expansion of the facility unnecessary. South Station has 13 tracks that currently serve 20 trains per hour in and out. By(...)

Pollack: HOV lanes aren’t working

Transpo secretary says most of the users are single people in cars

By Colin A. Young Transportation 0 Comments Sep 12, 2019

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HIGH-OCCUPANCY VEHICLE lanes, or carpool lanes, north and south of Boston are not really what they’re cracked up to be. The HOV lanes, which are intended to give vehicles with at least two occupants a more efficient travel lane, are overwhelmingly used by cars with only a driver, Transportation Secretary(...)

Congestion may be bad, but commute times changing little

Workers and employers find a way to keep trips to work reasonable

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments Sep 10, 2019

BOSTON IS STRUGGLING with the worst congestion in the nation, but drivers surprisingly say they haven’t seen a big increase in their commuting time over the last decade. According to US Census data, the average travel time to work for Bostonians was 27.5 minutes in 2007. In 2017, the travel time was up only 2.3(...)

Congestion may be bad, but commute times changing little

By CommonWealth Staff Transportation 0 Comments Sep 10, 2019

Boston is struggling with the worst congestion in the nation, but drivers surprisingly say they haven’t seen a big increase in their commuting time over the last decade. According to US Census data, the average travel time to work for Bostonians was 27.5 minutes in 2007. In 2017, the travel time was up only 2.3(...)

Baker rides the T

After taking heat for avoiding it, gov gets on the Red Line

By Andy Metzger Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Sep 9, 2019

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER boarded a southbound Red Line train on Monday morning, putting behind him years of refusal to ride the transit system he oversees. The visit from Park Street to the newly revamped Wollaston Station in Quincy, where he participated in a press conference, was uneventful, but it represented a symbolic break from the(...)

Back Bay-Logan bus is a big hit

Lower price, special perk have doubled ridership

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments Sep 5, 2019

A SPECIAL PERK and a much lower price have transformed the Massport bus operating between Back Bay and Logan International Airport into a hit with travelers. In the first four months of its reconfigured operation, ridership more than doubled, rising from 45,864 in 2018 to 97,963 this year. On a month-by-month basis, passenger traffic has(...)