MBTA OFFICIALS, who have been considering privatization of three bus maintenance garages to cut costs, say they reduced spending on bus repairs by 16 percent over a four-month period through […]
T notes: Agency cuts bus maintenance costs on its own
Posted inTransportation
Pollack defends 2040 date for West Station
AMID STRONG PUSHBACK from neighborhood activists and others, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack on Monday defended the Baker administration’s decision to put off until at least 2040 the construction of a […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 77: Rosenberg’s fall
Globe op-ed columnist Joan Vennochi, who joined Everhart on the Codcast, said it may not matter whether Hefner actually wielded any influence on Senate matters. “If the accuser thought that […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Rosenberg’s fall
THE NATIONAL RECKONING over sexual harassment has taken down former Senate president Stan Rosenberg — but there are no allegations of misconduct by the veteran Amherst Democrat. Instead, in what […]
Posted inOpinion
Lessons to be learned from Green Line Ext.
THE CONTRACTOR BIDS on the Green Line Extension have come in below the upside limit established by the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board, including the restoration of several key […]
Posted inOpinion
We cannot test and punish our way to better schools
THE CLOSER THEY ARE to actual public-school classrooms, the more Massachusetts residents understand it’s time to abandon the failed test-and-punish approach to school improvement. For two decades, we’ve seen how […]
Posted inOpinion
Standing up for undocumented students
OVER 8,000 young people in Massachusetts — and 800,000 nationally — now face an uncertain future as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for […]
Posted inPolitics
US Atty: Joyce ran office as ‘criminal enterprise’
FORMER STATE SEN. BRIAN JOYCE was arrested Friday and indicted for engaging in multiple influence-peddling schemes which netted him up to $1 million in fees that he went to elaborate […]
Posted inThe Download
DCF deja vu
It is the story that seems to play on a endless repeat loop, with battered and neglected children at the center of it. State Auditor Suzanne Bump released a scathing […]
Posted inThe Back Story
MBTA parking contract said to be in disarray
THE MBTA’s DIRECTOR OF PARKING resigned last week after distributing a 30-page statement detailing how the agency’s parking contractor is not living up to the terms of its contract and […]
Posted inThe Download
On sexual assault, a partisan divide
It is widely anticipated that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will announce his resignation today, as the number of cases of alleged sexual misconduct against him grows. If the one-time Saturday […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker tries to kickstart energy storage business
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION on Thursday handed out $20 million in energy storage grants, an attempt to kickstart an industry that holds promise in reducing peak electricity demand and increasing the […]
Posted inTransportation
Transportation equity key to unlocking state’s potential
“IF YOU BUILD IT, they will come.” It’s an appropriate quote for iconic baseball movies, and for a state focused on economic development. Here in Massachusetts, the chatter has been […]
Posted inTransportation
Barr funds 3 bus rapid transit pilots
THE BARR FOUNDATION awarded three $100,000 grants for pilot bus rapid transit projects scheduled to run next year in Arlington, Everett, and Cambridge and Watertown. In Arlington, the MBTA and […]
Posted inTransportation
Railing against transportation madness
I’M WONDERING WHETHER A TYPE OF MADNESS has infected our thinking in Greater Boston. Someone writes in the Boston Globe about how great it will be when autonomous vehicles replace […]
Posted inEnvironment
Maine utility: Our hydro project has lowest cost
IN THE PUBLIC JOCKEYING for a multibillion-dollar clean energy contract with Massachusetts, Central Maine Power on Wednesday said its project would deliver the largest amount of hydroelectricity from Quebec at […]
Posted inThe Download
‘They that go down to the sea in ships’
For centuries, New England fishermen have provided much of the seafood for the world’s dinner tables. In 1623, the nation’s first fishing port was started in Gloucester, which became synonymous […]
Posted inThe Download
It’s now up to Hefner’s accusers
In the space of five days, Beacon Hill has offered us a glimpse of all the complexity and unfairness associated with allegations of sexual assault and harassment in a political […]
Posted inTransportation
T notes: Blue Line only major peak concern
WITH THE EXCEPTION of the Blue Line, MBTA officials on Monday forecasted that the transit system’s subway lines should be able to absorb sharply higher numbers of riders at peak […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler elected acting Senate president
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SENATE INITIATED an Ethics Committee investigation on Monday night into its now former president Sen. Stanley Rosenberg in a dramatic day of upheaval that saw […]
Posted inTransportation
T targets poor reliability of buses
MBTA OFFICIALS RELEASED FIGURES on Monday indicating the agency’s bus system, which carries up to 450,000 people on a typical weekday, is unreliable a large amount of the time and […]
Posted inTransportation
T’s director of parking leaves authority
THE MBTA’s DIRECTOR OF PARKING left the transit authority on Friday after just a little over a year on the job, raising concerns that oversight of one of the transit […]
Posted inThe Codcast
Episode 76: Cashless T won’t leave people behind
There’s been a lot of talk about the MBTA’s plan to install a new fare collection system, most of it focused on the problems associated with going cashless. The concerns […]