Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

MBTA subway ridership takes hit with slow zones

Until recently, T passenger levels kept pace with industry peers

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Mar 31, 2023

THE BOTTOM FELL out of the public transit industry at the start of COVID, and it’s been a slow slog back for every agency – not just the MBTA. According to national subway data gathered by Chris Friend of the transit advocacy group TransitMatters, the MBTA for most of 2020, 2021, and the first half(...)

Is scrapping of bus service bad sign for South Coast rail?

New commuter rail service coming, but is demand there?

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Mar 28, 2023

THE SOUTH COAST’S only bus link to Boston is shutting down next month because ridership is so low, which is raising questions about the viability of commuter rail service to the region that is scheduled to begin later this year or early next year. DATTCO operates three-times-a-day bus service to Boston’s South Station and Copley(...)

Eng will be one of highest-paid transit execs in country

Base salary of $470,000 comes with retention, success bonuses

By Bruce Mohl Maura Healey, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 27, 2023

PHILLIP ENG, the new general manager and CEO at the MBTA, will be one of the highest paid transit authority executives in the country. Eng, who is starting his new job April 10, received a five-year contract with a base salary of $470,000 a year plus an “annual retention payment” of $30,000, according to the(...)

Healey brings in a transit professional to run the T

Eng says it’s time for a new way of doing business

By Bruce Mohl Maura Healey, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 27, 2023

NEARLY FOUR MONTHS into her term, Gov. Maura Healey made what she described as the most important appointment of her time in office, naming Phillip Eng as the new general manager of the MBTA. Eng is a genial, straight-talking, optimistic 61-year-old engineer who has spent 40 years working in various capacities in New York transit(...)

Healey about to name new MBTA GM

Phillip Eng retired from Long Island Rail Road a year ago

By Bruce Mohl Maura Healey, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 26, 2023

GOV. MAURA HEALEY on Monday is expected to tap the retired president of the Long Island Rail Road as the MBTA’s next general manager. Phillip Eng left the commuter rail system a little over a year ago and has been working as an executive vice president of the LiRo Group, which advises on transportation, infrastructure,(...)

Pause the search for a new GM at the MBTA

Give Gonneville the resources he needs to get the agency on track

By Jarred Johnson MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 26, 2023

THE SEARCH for a new MBTA general manager and all the hype around it is at best a distraction and, at worst, obscures the difficult work needed to turn around the system. Riders, and especially low-income riders, are bearing the brunt of a system in free fall and their safety and the restoration of pre-pandemic(...)

MBTA pension benefits tweaked to attract, retain workers

Allows 125 retirees to return to work part-time

By Bruce Mohl 0 Comments Mar 24, 2023

THE MBTA IS offering signing bonuses and other perks to fill the many job openings at the agency. Now the transit authority is tweaking its retirement benefits to better retain existing workers, attract new ones, and even bring some out of retirement. With the T desperately short of workers, the moves represent something of a(...)

T says low-income fare ramp-up would be year

Healey budget includes $5m in startup costs

By Chris Lisinski MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 23, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MBTA OFFICIALS estimated Thursday they would need at least a year and about $5 million to get a widespread low-income fare option off the ground, plus tens of millions of dollars per year to cover its recurring costs. The startup price — which would effectively mirror money Gov. Maura Healey proposed(...)

Survey indicates dramatic demographic shift among T riders

58% of T riders now minorities, 48% low-income

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 23, 2023

THE NUMBER of riders taking the MBTA declined significantly during COVID, but their demographic makeup also changed, shifting far more toward minorities and people with lower incomes. A new passenger study conducted by the MBTA found that minorities, those who self-identify as Hispanic, Latino or Latina, or a race other than white, accounted for 34(...)

Slow zones across 27% of MBTA subway system

New interactive map shows the breadth of the problem

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 23, 2023

INTERIM MBTA General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville on Thursday offered no timeline on when slow zones covering 27 percent of the subway system will be lifted, and said repair work will take place at nights when the system is shut down, on weekends, and in some cases by shutting down portions of subway lines at 8 or(...)