T oversight chief favors fare hike

Light turnout so far at public hearings

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 3 Comments Feb 10, 2016

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD said on Wednesday that he believes the underlying arguments for a fare increase remain valid. He made his comment after hearing a top agency official say the two fare hike proposals the T is considering are attracting a light turnout so far at public hearings. Brian Shortsleeve, the(...)

Baker seeks to redevelop state parcel

Works with Walsh on parcel near Chinatown

By Andy Metzger Charlie Baker, Growth and Development, Transportation 1 Comment Feb 9, 2016

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE PLANNING TO MOVE STATE HIGHWAY OFFICES from their perch above Boston’s Big Dig, city and state officials want to develop a large area at the edge of Chinatown, they announced Tuesday. The move is a high-profile example of an effort by Gov. Charlie Baker to convert state-owned land into housing and(...)

Anything above 5% is a social inequity

By Katherine Gergen Barnett MBTA 0 Comments Feb 9, 2016

AS THE BITTER COLD has returned to the streets of Boston, I have been driven into the warmth of the T more than once on my bike commute home from the hospital. The scene there is familiar – workers weary at the end of the day, parents with children swaddled in snow pants, young adults(...)

All aboard

How crowded is too crowded for MBTA passengers?

By Jack Sullivan MBTA, Transportation 1 Comment Feb 1, 2016

WHEN IS ENOUGH enough when it comes to crowded trains? For about 20 percent of those who ride the MBTA, apparently there is nothing that will stop them from trying to squeeze onto a packed subway car. As transit officials try to come up with some metrics to increase rider satisfaction, focusing more on customers’(...)

More thoughts on the Seaport District

Relieving congestion by adding capacity doesn’t work

By James Aloisi Transportation 1 Comment Jan 29, 2016

MY RECENT THOUGHT PIECE on how to address the growing mobility mess in the Seaport/Innovation/Fort Point Channel District (the District) triggered a fair amount of reaction, and prompted me to consider adding these additional thoughts to what has become a fairly robust civic debate. Much of that debate has been centered on the future of(...)

T ridership: Flat or flying high?

T, Frontier Group have different takes; Red Line up

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 1 Comment Jan 25, 2016

NO ONE CAN SEEM TO AGREE whether the glass is half full or half empty when it comes to MBTA ridership. In its annual report, the T’s Fiscal Management and Control Board described ridership as flat over the last 15 years while operating expenses were galloping upward at a rate of 5 percent per year.(...)

5 fixes for Seaport District

Bus Rapid Transit pilot should be tried

By James Aloisi State Government, Transportation 1 Comment Jan 21, 2016

CALL IT THE SEAPORT DISTRICT, the South Boston Seaport, the Innovation District, Fort Point Channel – call it whatever you want, Boston’s busy development boomtown is in the throes of a mobility crisis. The roadway system is chronically congested; the streetscape is generally unfriendly to pedestrians; there are no best-practices bicycle lanes; the Silver Line(...)

Audit reveals agency has been paying deferred comp to retired managers without funding

By Jack Sullivan MBTA, State Government, Taxes and Budget Issues, Transportation 1 Comment Jan 20, 2016

THE CASH-STRAPPED MBTA, with a seemingly bottomless supply of bad financial news, received another jolt on Wednesday when an audit revealed the agency owes about $80 million to retired agency executives who were promised extra money in exchange for leaving the Carmen’s Union to work in management. Shawn Warren, an auditor for KPMG, which did(...)

Report: MBTA knew two years ago about Green Line ext. overruns

T releases sealed record after losing public records appeal

By Jack Sullivan MBTA, Taxes and Budget Issues, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 15, 2016

MBTA OFFICIALS KNEW or should have known more than two years ago that the price of the Green Line extension was running far beyond initial estimates, long before officials say they were caught off-guard by the mind-boggling increase that caused officials to scrap the construction contracts and start over, according to a previously sealed report.(...)

Galvin orders T to release Green Line ext. report

Secretary of State says agency can’t claim attorney-client privilege

By Jack Sullivan MBTA 2 Comments Jan 12, 2016

THE SECRETARY OF STATE HAS ORDERED the MBTA to release a sealed consultant’s report on the botched Green Line extension, saying the embattled agency could not withhold the document because of attorney-client privilege or a separate “deliberative process” exemption under the Public Records Law. The decision came in the wake of two appeals filed under(...)