Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T letter cites parking revenue theft

Calls for audits at 13 lots going back to 2013

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 1 Comment Aug 12, 2016

THE MBTA HAS FORMALLY notified its parking lot operator that the company breached its contract by failing to reimburse the transit authority for money stolen by employees. The notification, which came in a letter dated Thursday from MBTA General Counsel John Englander to LAZ Parking, is the first time the T has publicly identified employee(...)

T parking revenue is up, but why?

Two possibilities: More customers or less leakage

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 2 Comments Aug 11, 2016

Parking revenue at the MBTA’s eight biggest lots rose sharply during the first half of the year, suggesting either more people are driving to T stations or less money is now being siphoned away as a result of an ongoing investigation into missing funds. The numbers for the first six months of the year indicate(...)

Baker to nix VMT pilot bid

Won't even test vehicle-miles-traveled fee

By Matt Murphy and Michael P. Norton Charlie Baker, Taxes and Budget Issues 0 Comments Aug 9, 2016

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHEN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER signs a highway and small bridge repair funding bill on Wednesday, the Republican governor plans to nix a proposed pilot program to test a system that would charge drivers based on how many miles they drive. Labeling the vehicle-miles-traveled pilot program a “tax,” Baker said he will(...)

Returns, temporarily, $31.2m in appropriations

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Aug 8, 2016

HERE’S A TWIST: the Baker administration needed financial help from the MBTA to balance the state’s fiscal 2016 budget. To help close a fiscal 2016 budget shortfall, the Baker administration withheld a $15.6 million T appropriation for June and asked the T to return a similar-sized appropriation for May. State officials say the $31.2 million(...)

T board OKs $15m more for Green Line ext.

Feds may give hint this week on $1b pledge

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Aug 8, 2016

THE MBTA’S FISCAL MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL BOARD on Monday approved spending another $15 million on the Green Line extension even as state officials said they expected to hear this week whether the federal government would honor its earlier commitment to provide $1 billion for the project. John Englander, the MBTA’s legal counsel, said the T(...)

How far does South Coast Rail commitment go?

Pollack says commitment firm despite questions on cost

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Aug 8, 2016

THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION says the state is committed to South Coast Rail, even though the route and the cost of the project are not even close to being finalized. State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack kicked off a conversation about South Coast Rail with the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board on Monday by saying the(...)

Boneheaded transportation moves

Comments are so wacky, it must be August

By James Aloisi Transportation 6 Comments Aug 8, 2016

AUGUST IS THAT MONTH when there isn’t an official federal or state holiday because so many people are assumed to be on vacation. This makes August a time when people can make remarkably bad decisions, or profoundly tone-deaf remarks, and hope no one notices, expecting that everyone is at the beach or having long languorous(...)

Baker hails Uber bill

Governor signs law with new fee earmarked for infrastructure, taxis

By Katie Lannan Charlie Baker, Lyft, Massachusetts Legislature, Taxes and Budget Issues, Technology, Transportation, Uber 0 Comments Aug 5, 2016

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday afternoon signed into law what he described as the strongest regulatory framework in the country for app-based ride-for-hire services like Uber and Lyft. “I want to start by thanking the Legislature for pushing this one through,” Baker said after signing the bill in his office. “There(...)

T to pay $400 million for mandated safety system

Feds will provide bulk of money in low-interest loans

By Jack Sullivan MBTA, Taxes and Budget Issues, Technology, Transportation 0 Comments Aug 1, 2016

MBTA OFFICIALS SAY a mandatory $460 million system to ensure rail safety is on track to be installed by 2020 but though they claim it’s an 80-20 split with the federal government for funding, the cash-strapped authority will end up picking up 87 percent of the cost because the bulk of the money from Washington(...)

T union claims cash uncollected

MBTA officials deny riders let in for free when machines shut down

By Jack Sullivan MBTA, privatization, Transportation 5 Comments Aug 1, 2016

THE HEAD OF the MBTA’s Carmen’s Union ramped up his assault on the agency’s move to privatize money collection, claiming the first week of a new system resulted in untold lost revenue from streams of riders going through open gates for free triggered by fare vending machines that wouldn’t work because they were too stuffed(...)