Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Green Line shutdowns to last a month

Part of effort to do maintenance work more quickly

By Chris Lisinski Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 6, 2020

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TRAVELING ON AN MBTA train will get more challenging this year, but officials promise passengers it will all be worth it in the long run. All five main MBTA lines and parts of the commuter rail will now see shutdowns in 2020 in an expanded push to complete maintenance work more(...)

East-West rail comes with very high price tag

Analysis: Construction cost for fastest option $51,074 per trip

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments Feb 6, 2020

A LONG-AWAITED ANALYSIS of East-West rail service indicates passengers could travel between Boston and Springfield in as little as 79 minutes at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, but the cost would be high – with a low-ball estimate putting the price tag at $25 billion. The analysis by consultants working for the Massachusetts(...)

Baker’s stump speech on transportation

Playing catchup, weed whacking, and omissions

By Bruce Mohl Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 4, 2020

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER outlined his top personal and legislative priorities for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, focusing on education, health care, transportation, skills training, climate change, and housing. On health care and housing, Baker asked business leaders to pressure the Legislature to pass his proposals. On skills training, he outlined an initiative(...)

Senator disappointed with missed commuter rail deadline

Crighton: ‘I wonder why they are dragging their feet’

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 3, 2020

SEN BRENDAN CRIGHTON of Lynn says he is very disappointed that the MBTA failed to meet an initial deadline for the first phase of a commuter rail makeover last week, and said waiting until spring is unacceptable. “I don’t feel the MBTA has the same sense of urgency that my constituents and commuters feel,” he said.(...)

Kennedy lauds T union fight against privatization

Says conditions at Quincy bus repair garage are bad

By Bruce Mohl Charlie Baker, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Feb 2, 2020

US REP. JOE KENNEDY III joined MBTA union workers on Sunday at a bus repair garage in Quincy to protest the transit authority’s consideration of a plan to outsource the operation and maintenance of 60 new buses to a private vendor. Union officials cast the privatization fight as an us-versus-them battle with Gov. Charlie Baker(...)

Senators, unions push back against more T privatization

Say turning 60 buses over to private vendor would be mistake

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 27, 2020

MBTA UNIONS and their legislative supporters launched a full-court press at Monday’s meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board to block efforts by the transit authority to buy 60 new buses and turn them over to a private contractor to operate and maintain. Six of the state’s 40 senators and a host of union(...)

T off to slow start on commuter rail makeover

Control board deadline passes with little action

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 27, 2020

THE MBTA IS OFF to a slow start in developing a plan to transform the state’s commuter rail system so it can provide more subway-like service. At a November 4 meeting, the Fiscal and Management Control Board passed five resolutions laying out a vision for a commuter rail system of the future that would rely(...)

T notes: Fairmount Line getting 8 more daily trips

Change orders drive up cost of Red, Orange line cars 8 percent

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 27, 2020

THE MBTA PLANS to launch new service along the Fairmount commuter rail line in May, testing whether four additional trips in each direction will boost ridership and how fare validators on the platforms will perform. The Fairmount Line, the commuter rail line with the least ridership, runs from Readville to South Station with seven stops(...)

Calling out the guardians of the T status quo

It’s time to stop slow-dancing the Red-Blue connector

By James Aloisi MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 26, 2020

IT WAS STUNNING and deeply disappointing to read last week that the MBTA’s general manager didn’t see a time horizon earlier than 2030 for the completion of the Red-Blue connector project. That was tantamount to saying that one of the most cost-effective transit projects on the T’s capital investment plan, a five-year plan outlining investments(...)

T needs to move fast on electric buses

Black carbon, other particulates are real dangers

By Paola Massoli and Matt Casale Climate change, MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jan 24, 2020

Editor’s note: This op-ed was written prior to the filing of Senate climate legislation mandating an all-electric MBTA bus fleet by 2040. RESIDENTS OF THE BOSTON AREA feel the pain of transportation problems daily. Congestion is crippling the region and policy-makers are struggling to implement short-term solutions to improve public transit services. But it is(...)