Tracking Transportation

Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Transportation notes: Rocky rollout at inspection stations

Transportation notes: Rocky rollout at inspection stations

Deveney said focus should have been on people, not equipment

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STATE OFFICIALS ON MONDAY conceded that a new system for handing out automobile inspection stickers got off to a dismal start at the beginning of October because of a failure to provide enough technical support to the roughly 1,700 stations participating in the program. “While we provided the technology to the stations, they deserved a(...)

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Union: Only 1 firm bid on T bus repair work

Union: Only 1 firm bid on T bus repair work

Lack of interest may complicate privatization efforts

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THE MBTA’S BID TO PRIVATIZE as many as three of its nine bus maintenance garages may be in trouble, as the union representing existing workers said only one firm had submitted a bid to do the work. Luis Ramirez, the T’s general manager, refused to comment on how many companies had submitted bids and was(...)

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Shadow transit agency

Fall 2017

Shadow transit agency

When these three transportation policy wonks talk, the MBTA listens

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PHOTOGRAPHS BY FRANK CURRAN LOOKING AT THESE THREE GUYS, you wonder what they have in common. Marc Ebuña is a 30-year-old information technology worker who dresses fashionably, lives in Jamaica Plain, and sports a Fitbit. Ari Ofsevit is a 33-year-old graduate student studying engineering and city planning at MIT; he lives in Cambridge, bicycles nearly(...)

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A new breed of advocacy

Fall 2017

A new breed of advocacy

These advocates are driven by data rather than ideology

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THIS ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS a new breed of advocacy that appears to be emerging here in Massachusetts, an advocacy driven more by data than ideology. Our Conversation introduces you to Marc Ebuña, Ari Ofsevit, and Andy Monat. You’ve probably never heard of these three relatively young men from a group called TransitMatters. They aren’t quoted regularly(...)

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Is Baker’s commission another delay tactic?

Is Baker’s commission another delay tactic?

Need for more transportation revenues hasn’t changed

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LIKE RED LINE TRAINS, the state’s efforts to address transportation funding are constantly bedeviled by fits and starts in a seemingly endless quest to reach the destination. In the latest iteration, the Baker administration has proposed the creation of a commission to analyze transportation needs and develop a plan to pay for them, though the(...)

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Group sees regional rail potential

Group sees regional rail potential

Moulton convenes, biz group funds N-S Rail research

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IT WAS BILLED AS A LOOK at the real estate opportunities associated with an underground rail link between North and South Stations, but the presentation ended up centering more on the potential of regional rail. A group of eight experts from around the country and the world assembled by the Urban Land Institute spent the(...)

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Senators grill T officials on privatization

Senators grill T officials on privatization

Focus on compliance with April vote of control board

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IN APRIL, THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a budget that counted on millions of dollars in savings from bus maintenance operations, and the five members unanimously approved a motion stating that their preference in achieving those savings was to work collaboratively with the T’s machinists union. No one spelled out exactly what(...)

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T notes: Pollack slams Keolis on-time performance

T notes: Pollack slams Keolis on-time performance

Control board backs livestreaming of meetings, appoints Kadish

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TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK took Keolis Commuter Service to task on Monday for failing to improve its on-time performance. Pollack acknowledged after the meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board that she was frustrated, but her comments indicated she was tired of the never-ending stream of explanations from Keolis for delays. Keolis is the(...)

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Problems surface with T’s collision-avoidance contract

Problems surface with T’s collision-avoidance contract

Board chair calls quality assurance issues ‘really disturbing’

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THE PRIVATE CONTRACTOR installing a $459 million system to prevent commuter rail train collisions came under heavy fire on Monday for failing to detect problems with its work that were spotted after-the-fact by consultants working for the MBTA. In a presentation to the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, project manager Karen Antion was mostly(...)

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Fare verification spurs electronic ticket sales

Fare verification spurs electronic ticket sales

Double-digit increases an indicator of less evasion

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KEOLIS COMMUTER SERVICES  said on Monday that its emerging fare verification initiative is spurring the sale of an average of 1,500 to 2,000 more electronic tickets a day for commuter rail trips. The higher sales figures don’t necessarily mean all those purchases are by people who previously tried to avoid paying their fares, but Keolis(...)

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