Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Why new Green Line approach makes sense

Will increase capacity, speed up service, and save money

By Ted Pyne MBTA 0 Comments May 14, 2018

FOR OVER A HUNDRED YEARS, the design of Green Line cars has been dictated by the Lechmere Inner Loop, a 42-foot radius curve that has required custom-designed vehicles ever since the T moved beyond World War II era trolleys. This custom design has shackled the T and all Green Line riders to trolley equipment that(...)

T notes: Budget boosts RTA funding 10%

Seeks plan for electrifying Providence, Fairmount commuter rail lines

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments May 10, 2018

THE SENATE WAYS AND MEANS BUDGET proposal for the coming fiscal year would give a 10 percent increase in funding to the state’s 15 regional transit authorities, which provide bus service to residents outside the MBTA service area. The budget plan would provide $88 million in funding, with $84 million allocated among the authorities using(...)

T notes: TransitMatters raises concerns on Newton proposal

Study on Mattapan Line options due in 30-60 days

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments May 7, 2018

A TRANSIT ADVOCATE WARNED on Monday that the MBTA’s planned rebuild of three commuter rail stations in Newton would hinder the system’s ability to provide regional rail service in the future. At a meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday, T officials said they planned to build new, handicap-accessible stations on the(...)

T planning $3.5b Green Line train of future

New trains would be more standardized, longer, and carry more people

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments May 7, 2018

THE MBTA IS STARTING to develop a Green Line train of the future that will be much longer and carry far more passengers than existing train sets. T officials told the Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday that the new trains would start arriving in 2028 and the cost of the entire project will(...)

Mayor Walsh, don’t ticket home care aides

Give them access to residential parking passes

By Sarah Gross, Allison Hesketh, Jonathan Kolodziej, Anastasia Spratley and Madison Tallant Transportation 0 Comments May 6, 2018

CHANCES ARE THAT SOMEONE YOU KNOW either needs in-home care now, or will in the future. As the older adult population in Massachusetts continues to grow, many of our relatives, friends, and neighbors may find that they need extra support with daily activities in order to stay in their homes. The home care aide workforce(...)

Boston, Cambridge epicenter of ride-hailing

Apps provided 64.8m trips in Mass. last year

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 1, 2018

RIDE-HAILING APPS such as Uber and Lyft provided 64.8 million trips last year in Massachusetts, with the bulk of those trips starting in Boston and surrounding communities. More than half the trips (34.9 million) originated in Boston itself and more than two-thirds originated in Boston and Cambridge (6.8 million trips), according to new state data.(...)

T board struggling with ridership estimates

Some on board say poor data hampers decision-making

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Apr 30, 2018

AS THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board explores the addition of new services and stations, the agency is bumping up against what appears to be a recurring problem – generating accurate estimates of future ridership. On Monday, for example, a state official was giving a presentation to the control board on a $50,000 study(...)

T hires new paratransit dispatcher

New contractor, Transdev, came in second in 2016

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Apr 30, 2018

THE MBTA OVERSIGHT BOARD hired a new vendor on Monday to manage paratransit operations, a move that T officials characterized as a bid to correct an earlier mistake and to upgrade the agency’s overall contracting practices. Transdev, one of the world’s largest transportation providers, was given a five-year contract worth nearly $12 million annually to(...)

Aloisi wrong on South Coast Rail

Phased service makes sense, commute times are getting worse

By Nicholas Christ, Dave Slutz and Hugh Dunn Gateway Cities, MBTA 0 Comments Apr 28, 2018

NEARLY A DECADE AGO, former transportation secretary James Aloisi assured the residents of the South Coast region that South Coast Rail would become a reality. “This is not just a vision anymore; it’s a plan . . . We’re building platforms for the future,” he said in a talk with the Standard Times editorial board.(...)

Pollack notes: More money for RTAs not the answer

Value capture unlikely with South Coast Rail

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 24, 2018

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK said on Tuesday that more money is not the answer to the financial woes of the state’s 15 regional transit authorities. The authorities have been pushing state lawmakers for a bigger appropriation for the coming fiscal year, but Pollack indicated the authorities should first take stock of the existing transportation marketplace(...)


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