GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, Beacon Hill’s Mr. Fix-it, is taking a lot of heat over the Red Line derailment on Tuesday. A Boston Globe editorial – titled “Going off the rails on Charlie Baker’s train – warns the T is his Achilles heel as he lays plans to seek a third term. Beacon Hill analyst Michael Widmer […]
Transportation
Posted inTransportation
T shuttle buses couldn’t keep up
THE MBTA DEPLOYED 94 of its own buses along with 15 supplied by the Yankee Line to shuttle the thousands of passengers stranded when a Red Line train derailed at the JFK/UMass Station Tuesday morning, but the effort was thwarted when demand for seats far exceeded the supply and many of those who did make […]
Posted inOpinion
Where is Baker’s sense of urgency on the T?
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER is apparently contemplating a third term in order to complete the things he’s started. It’s clear that at this pace he may need a fourth term to fix the MBTA. The two MBTA derailments in the past week dramatize the enormous challenges facing the T and the lack of meaningful progress for […]
Posted inTransportation
T still investigating Red Line derailment
MBTA OFFICIALS had few answers about what might have caused a derailment that wreaked havoc on Tuesday morning commutes and they offered no estimates about when Red Line service might return to normal. Late Tuesday afternoon, the MBTA tweeted that Red Line service had resumed between Ashmont and Alewife, and it is phasing out the […]
Posted inOpinion
Cyber criminals will love charging station plan
ELECTRIC VEHICLE DRIVERS in Massachusetts and the Northeast could soon become targets for cyber criminals if a proposal that would force the installation of credit card readers at public charging stations is adopted. Payments made at electric vehicle charging stations today rely on “contactless” methods using the latest in digital technologies – including mobile payments […]
Posted inTransportation
Red Line train derails; gridlock ensues
A RED LINE TRAIN derailment at the JFK/UMass Station early Tuesday morning plunged the city of Boston into a far-worse-than-usual gridlock. The derailment occurred at about 6 a.m. at one of the major choke points on the MBTA system, where the two southern branches of the Red Line converge. As a result, the T had […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: New fare inspectors will be civilians
MBTA OFFICIALS SAY they intend to hire a team of non-police inspectors to verify that passengers on buses and Green Line trains have paid their fares once a new automated fare collection system is installed in 2021. The new cashless fare collection system has the potential to speed up service significantly since passengers won’t be […]
Posted inTransportation
Special fare for low-income T riders gains momentum
MBTA GENERAL MANAGER Steve Poftak said on Monday that the agency intends to research how to implement a special, less expensive fare for low-income people, but he said the scope and parameters of the study need to be worked out. “The intent is to study it. It’s just a question of the depth of the […]
Posted inTransportation
Senate passes distracted driving bill unanimously
LEGISLATION TO CRACK down on cellphone use by drivers breezed through the Senate on Thursday, setting up a debate with the House over how concerns about racial profiling should be handled before it is sent to the governor. Before the unanimous vote, members highlighted the tragic stories of parents seated in the gallery who had […]
Posted inTransportation
T lures Henderson from MassDevelopment
THE MBTA, which has faced criticism for lax oversight of its real estate portfolio, has hired the top real estate official at MassDevelopment. Richard Henderson, the executive vice president for real estate at MassDevelopment, will assume the title of chief real estate officer at the T on July 1. He was paid $219,662 in 2018 […]