Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

Lawmakers back extension of existing MBTA control board

Unable to agree on new panel, they support 1-year extension

By Chris Lisinski Massachusetts Legislature, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 25, 2020

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE AND SENATE leaders reached an agreement Thursday to keep the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board in place for another year and to scrap a planned increase in road and bridge maintenance funding, effectively sealing the fate of the annual reimbursement program. After weeks of disagreement between the two branches,(...)

Theoharides stirs outrage with Pike stance

Dimino calls her letter ‘premature and unprecedented’

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 23, 2020

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Stephanie Pollack got a big assist from one of her colleagues in Gov. Charlie Baker’s cabinet on Monday in making the case for a status quo solution to the rebuild of a deteriorating elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike on a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Boston University and the Charles River.(...)

Rideshares become ubiquitous in Mass.

Still, growth in trips slows in 2019 to 12 percent

By Colin A. Young Transportation 0 Comments Jun 23, 2020

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE GROWTH OF RIDESHARE trips taken in Massachusetts decelerated in 2019, but the roughly 91.1 million trips taken with services like Lyft and Uber generated more than $18.2 million in assessment fees for the state and local governments. The 91.1 million trips taken with app-based ride-for-hire services represented a 12 percent(...)

T notes: Control board says goodbye, offers advice

GM: COVID-19 delaying production of new Red, Orange Line cars

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 22, 2020

THE FUTURE OF MBTA oversight entered an uncertain period on Monday, as the Fiscal and Management Control Board held the last meeting of its five-year life with no clarity from the Legislature yet on whether a new board will be created to pick up where the old one left off. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said(...)

Pollack outlines yet another ‘throat’ option

Sets deadline of this fall to wrap discussions up

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 22, 2020

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK on Monday proposed a modified rebuild of the existing Massachusetts Turnpike and other transportation infrastructure in the narrow 204-foot space between Boston University and the Charles River as a way of avoiding any incursion into the Charles River and speeding up construction of a new I-90 Allston interchange. Pollack’s proposal calls(...)

Avoiding a return to carmageddon

To encourage transit use, raise cost of driving

By Ian Ollis MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 18, 2020

AS WE BEGIN THE JOURNEY to the “new normal,” post-COVID work environment, there is the strong likelihood that traffic congestion will be worse than before. With COVID leaving many with lingering doubts about the safety and health risks associated with public anything, including public transportation, many will turn to the private automobile as their transport(...)

Theoharides: Transpo emission pact still priority

COVID-19 makes even stronger case for addressing climate change

By Matt Murphy Energy, State Government, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 17, 2020

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has only sharpened her and the administration’s resolve to push forward with its climate change agenda, including a regional transportation emissions cap-and-trade program for gasoline that would add additional costs at the pump. Despite the virus pushing global(...)

T notes: Riders returning slowly to buses, subways

Flex pass coming for those who commute occasionally

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 15, 2020

RIDERS ARE SLOWLY RETURNING to the MBTA’s buses and subways, and the transit authority is preparing to add more service starting next weekend to allow social distancing at the higher passenger levels. Steve Poftak, the T’s general manager, said bus passenger levels have risen 15 percent each week since the middle of May and subway(...)

Buys time to plan for commuter rail of future

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 15, 2020

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Stephanie Pollack vowed in early 2017 that the MBTA’s $2.6 billion contract with Keolis Commuter Services would not be renewed when it expires in 2022, but on Monday the T oversight board unanimously approved a four-year extension along with some tweaks to the remaining two years on the existing deal. The contract extension(...)

Taxpayers Foundation: T facing existential crisis

Transit authority in worse shape now than in 2015

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jun 15, 2020

BATTERED BY A CORONAVIRUS pandemic that has slashed fare revenue and soured Beacon Hill on providing additional funding for new initiatives, the MBTA is facing a financial crisis worse than the one it encountered during the snowmageddon of 2015, according to a report released by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The business-backed financial watchdog said $827(...)