Ari Ofsevit

ON FRIDAY, we received the good news that Boston was awarded a $15 million federal “RAISE” grant for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and multimodal street improvements along Blue Hill Avenue. This is worth celebrating, but in the world of federal funding, we should aim higher. The Blue Hill Avenue project will speed trips for tens […]

“At Silver Line Way, you will hear the bus’s engine shut down for just a moment, as it converts to diesel power for the rest of the trip to Logan Airport.” These words have been repeated on every Silver Line trip since 2004, as buses have transported millions of passengers between South Station, Logan Airport, […]

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER recently announced several upcoming weekday shutdowns of MBTA lines, with the most dramatic shutdowns coming to the Green Line. This short-term pain, long-term gain approach – relying on replacement shuttle buses – streamlines repairs to bring better service to customers more quickly. Ask any rider who has taken shuttle buses during other […]

ONCE AGAIN, the MBTA’s floating slab project has reared its ugly head. If it seems like this project has been going on forever, it’s because it has. The first weekend shutdowns to replace the concrete which holds the tracks together took place in 2011. Over the past decade, one might assume that the MBTA would […]

OF MAJOR AIRPORTS in the United States, Boston’s is closer to the downtown than most. Yet despite the short distance, getting to Logan at rush hour can be challenging. Pick your poison: a taxicab or ride-hail in traffic? A similarly-congested ride on the Silver Line bus? A traffic-avoiding multi-seat ride on the Blue Line? A […]

IT’S NOT SURPRISING that service on the Red Line has suffered in the wake of the June 11 derailment that took out a large chunk of the line’s signal system. The lack of signals precludes running the normal complement of trains at rush hour—14 per hour. Instead, the T is running approximately 9 to 10 […]

WHEN THE RED LINE DERAILMENT occurred, at first it seemed like it was in a relatively good location. Ashmont trains could bypass the crash site, and passengers could transfer to the Braintree branch at JFK/UMass, eliminating the need for the multiple transfers involved with a bus bridge. By Tuesday evening, the T had put this […]

EVERY MORNING, at 4:57, the first 111 bus leaves Chelsea and makes its way up the ramp from Everett Avenue to the upper deck of the Tobin Bridge, before merging left and joining the bridge traffic for the trip to Haymarket. Seven minutes later, the next bus follows. By the last trip at 12:48 the […]