Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

MassDOT to spend $75m shoring up elevated Turnpike

Agency says repairs needed for ‘near-term safety’ of roadway

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 18, 2021

THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT of Transportation issued an unusual press release Tuesday evening indicating the agency is preparing to spend $75 million shoring up the crumbling elevated section of the Turnpike as it runs between Boston University and the Charles River. MassDOT said the repair work was needed for the “near-term safety of the viaduct” and(...)

Advocates: Tap fed infrastructure funds for Allston I-90 project

See fit with $20b proposal to address ‘historic inequities’

By Bruce Mohl Transportation 0 Comments May 12, 2021

A GROUP OF TRANSPORTATION advocates sent a letter on Wednesday to all members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation urging them to press for federal funding for an all-at-grade I-90 Allston project. The advocates, representing neighboring communities, the business group A Better City, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Sierra Club, WalkBoston, Transit Matters, the Kendall Square(...)

T notes: Bus network redesign coming next year

Pads suspected in March 16 Orange Line derailment

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 10, 2021

THE MBTA plans to begin phasing in a redesign of its entire bus network starting a year from now. T officials, who not long ago overhauled many of the system’s individual bus routes, told the Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday that they are now at work on redesigning the whole network to focus(...)

T board calls for $10 fine for fare evasion

Shows interest in linking fare evasion, income-based fares

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 10, 2021

THE MBTA oversight board called for making fines for fare evasion among the lowest in the country – at least until fares based on the income level of the passenger are implemented. The current fines for fare evasion at the T are $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense, and $600 for(...)

Newton cut off from all-day rail

Poor decisions in 1960s causing today’s problems

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments May 4, 2021

NEWTON HAS FOUND itself on the outside looking in as the MBTA’s commuter rail system transitions from service geared around morning and afternoon peak periods to more frequent service at standard one-hour intervals throughout the day. On the Worcester commuter rail line, which runs through Newton, service out of South Station under the new system(...)

An ex-staffer’s perspective on T governance

‘It was like being the child of 7 divorced parents’

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 27, 2021

LAUREL PAGET-SEEKINS spent six years at the MBTA, rising through the ranks to assistant general manager for policy before she left at the end of last year to become a fellow at the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations. She was considered one of the T’s top employees and often made presentations to the Fiscal and(...)

T lays out bus electrification plan

Rollout dependent on build out of new bus garages

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 26, 2021

MBTA OFFICIALS on Monday laid out a multi-billion-dollar plan for reducing the bus fleet’s carbon emissions to zero by annually rolling out a steady stream of hybrid electric-diesel and battery-electric buses with the share of all-electric buses dependent on how fast the agency’s old maintenance garages can be overhauled and rebuilt. Scott Hamwey, director of(...)

Four questions for the MBTA’s Steve Poftak

GM says he plans to hire 80-120 fare verifiers

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 20, 2021

MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak came on the Codcast this week and we asked him about four issues: returning to full service levels, means-tested vs. free fares, fare verification efforts, and the new commuter rail schedule. Here’s what he had to say. Returning to full-service levels. The T initially lowered its service levels during COVID(...)

T notes: Scrambling for electric trains

Some service cuts will be restored in June

By Bruce Mohl and Chris Lisinski MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 12, 2021

THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board pressed agency officials on Monday to accelerate the rollout of commuter rail trains that run on electricity instead of diesel fuel, but it was evident it will be years before that happens even in the most ideal conditions. The control board adopted a series of resolutions in November(...)

T board gives boost to means-tested fares

One member proposes fare-free week in fall

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Apr 12, 2021

SEVERAL MEMBERS of the MBTA’s oversight board called for a major overhaul of the transit system’s fare structure, including a much more serious look at the implementation of charging customers based on how much income they earn, often referred to as means-tested fares. At a meeting of the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on(...)