Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T hires interim Green Line ext. team

Group to scale back costs, find more revenue

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Jan 11, 2016

THE MBTA ON MONDAY named an interim leadership team that will be charged with bringing the cost of the proposed Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford in line with available revenues. The project was originally slated to cost $2 billion, with half coming from the federal government and half coming from the state. When(...)

T cites progress on structural deficit

Officials suggest replacing all 220 Green Line cars

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 1 Comment Jan 11, 2016

MBTA OFFICIALS ON MONDAY said they are making progress in eliminating the T’s structural deficit and told the agency’s oversight board that major decisions must be made in the next six months on replacing all 220 Green Line cars, overhauling or replacing 86 Red Line cars, and finding a new way to provide service between(...)

Massport wants to add 5,000 parking spots

Passenger traffic forecast to grow 24% by 2022

By Andy Metzger Transportation 1 Comment Jan 7, 2016

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS PORT AUTHORITY plans to upgrade facilities for travel by ground, sea, and air with added parking and international gates at Logan Airport and a dredging project in Boston Harbor. Massport Executive Director Thomas Glynn told the Transportation Committee on Thursday that the authority is looking to add another 5,000(...)

A Beacon Hill switcheroo

How the T fare cap went from 5% to 10%

By Bruce Mohl Massachusetts Legislature, MBTA 3 Comments Jan 7, 2016

In 2013, a bill went into a legislative conference committee on Beacon Hill with a section limiting MBTA fare increases to 5 percent every two years. The section emerged from the conference committee with a one-word change that raised the cap to 10 percent, which is roughly the size of one of the two fare(...)

Lots of no-shows at value capture hearing

Officials from T, Somerville don’t testify

By Erik Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Jan 6, 2016

THE LEGISLATURE’S TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that could help fund the cash-strapped Green Line Extension, but neither the communities that would provide the funding nor the MBTA which would spend the money showed up to say whether they supported the legislation. The bill, filed by the House chairman of the committee,(...)

T passes exempt from fare constraints

Pollack says monthly passes are not 'fares'

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 3 Comments Jan 6, 2016

THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is adopting a definition of the word fare that would allow the MBTA to increase the prices of bus and subway passes at any time and by any amount. A state law passed in 2013 limits MBTA fare increases to no more than 10 percent every two years. The Baker administration this(...)

Commuter rail train derails in Andover

4 a.m. incident under investigation; no one injured

By Andy Metzger MBTA 0 Comments Jan 5, 2016

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A COMMUTER RAIL TRAIN without any passengers derailed north of the Andover station Tuesday morning, a day after MBTA overseers advanced two options for hiking fares this year by roughly 6.7 percent or 9.7 percent. Mac Daniel, a spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, the commuter rail operator, said the train was traveling(...)

T to seek comment on 2 fare options

Base prices would rise 5% or 10%, most passes would go up more

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 2 Comments Jan 4, 2016

THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD voted unanimously on Monday to seek public comment on two proposals that would raise base fares by either 5 or 10 percent while increasing the price of many popular T passes by greater amounts. Under the two proposals, the Charlie Card single-ride subway fare would rise from $2.10 to either $2.20(...)

Officials review new ways to assess charges

By Andy Metzger MBTA 1 Comment Dec 21, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS MBTA LEADERS CONSIDER FARE INCREASES of as much as 10 percent starting July 1 and the potential for fares based on ability to pay, a top official suggested new ways to modernize fare collection. MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve said the T should move toward an “open payment system” where(...)

T maintenance worker paid $315,000

Official says employee worked 2,600 hours of overtime

By Andy Metzger MBTA 8 Comments Dec 21, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HIGHEST-PAID MBTA EMPLOYEE has been paid about $315,000 so far in 2015, working 4,455 hours, MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve told the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday. That worker, who is a maintenance of way employee, receives a base salary of $85,000 and worked about 2,600 hours(...)