Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T control board meeting less than law requires

Chair says fewer sessions in best interest of the authority

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 4, 2019

OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board has been holding fewer meetings than the law requires. The state law creating the control board requires it to meet “not less than 3 times a month,” but since July the board has met three times in a month only once. Overall, the(...)

Spotlight congestion investigation was McGrory’s idea

Faneuil Hall panel discussion suggests public consensus elusive

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 3, 2019

A clarification has been added to this story. BRIAN MCGRORY, the editor of the Boston Globe, said it was his idea for the newspaper’s Spotlight Team to launch an investigation of congestion in and around Boston and what to do about it. Speaking at a Faneuil Hall event focused on the Spotlight Team’s three-part series,(...)

To balance its budget, T to seek additional funds

Control board expected to vote on request later this month

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Dec 3, 2019

IN A SIGN OF MOUNTING pressures on the MBTA’s operating budget, the Fiscal and Management Control Board is preparing to take a portion of a legislative appropriation that had been set aside for capital projects and use the money to cover the authority’s rising expenses. In and of itself, the shift of funds would not(...)

Putting multiple transport options at your fingertips

With Mobility as a Service, usership could replace ownership

By Jonathan Bray Transportation 0 Comments Dec 1, 2019

IT’S OFTEN DUBBED the Netflix of transport by its advocates for bringing together multiple transport and mobility choices into a single, digital platform which users can either purchase via subscription packages or on a pay-as-you-go basis. Its supporters herald it as the solution to a host of transport challenges within our cities. But can Mobility(...)

Moving on from car-as-king development

We could build great places again if we can get the parking right

By Amy Dain Development, Transportation 0 Comments Nov 23, 2019

THE DESIGN DILEMMA for America’s current generation of city builders is what to do about cars, and in particular parking. Our most beloved places were built before cars became the common person’s primary means for autonomy and travel. Yet reversion to car-free design, which makes sense to reduce auto emissions and combat climate change, is(...)

Pros and cons on the Spotlight report on congestion

Good at explaining causes; less thorough on solutions

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Nov 22, 2019

THE BOSTON GLOBE SPOTLIGHT TEAM reported this week that Greater Boston’s transportation problem is worsening and suggested the best way to deal with it would be to implement congestion pricing and use incentives to get people out of their vehicles. The massive three-part series contained a lot of great anecdotes and volumes of data. Over the(...)

Traffic at your fingertips

Globe tracks how on-demand adds to congestion

By Andy Metzger Transportation 0 Comments Nov 21, 2019

YOU DON’T NEED to drive a car or own a parking garage to add to Boston’s traffic woes. Thanks to modern technology, you can do all that from the comfort of your home on your smart phone. In the third and final installment of its data-laden survey of the region’s brake-light-hued congestion problem, the Boston(...)

Concerns on police bias linger after distracted driving vote

Northeastern prof critical of information-gather approach

By Andy Metzger ACLU, bias, cell phones, conference committee, Jack McDevitt, Karen Spilka, racial profiling, Robert DeLeo, William Straus 0 Comments Nov 20, 2019

OVERWHELMING VOTES IN the House and Senate to enact driver safety legislation belie enduring disagreements within the Legislature over how best to monitor and tamp down racial bias by police. The bill that was sent to Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday is now virtually guaranteed to become law, but the legislation was formed in an(...)

T notes: Commuter rail on-time performance takes dive

Pension fund urged to invest all its money with PRIM

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Nov 18, 2019

THE ON-TIME PERFORMANCE of the commuter rail system took a sharp dive in late September and October, particularly on the Fitchburg, Franklin, and Providence lines. According to statistics released at a meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday, the system as a whole was on-time (defined as within five minutes of the(...)

State officials defend temporary roadway in Charles River

Soldiers Field Road bypass would require adding some fill

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Nov 18, 2019

TO REBUILD AND REORIENT an elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike near Boston University, the state Department of Transportation is currently planning to build a temporary Soldiers Field Road bypass out over the Charles River about 50 feet offshore, which would require filling in parts of the river where the bypass connects to land. The(...)