THE MBTA IS STARTING to ramp up its new transit ambassador program, its latest bid to improve service using private contractors. Transit ambassadors, wearing bright red shirts emblazoned with […]
MBTA
Posted inTransportation
Privatization at the T isn’t the solution
THREE YEARS BEFORE BOSTON opened America’s first subway, railway workers were the catalyst for labor being recognized with a federal holiday. In 1894 George Pullman, facing financial pressure, cut the […]
Posted inTransportation
T cites $400m in Pacheco Law waiver savings
THE MBTA EXPECTS TO SAVE more than $400 million in operating and avoided capital expenses over the next 10 years because of privatization initiatives engineered under a waiver from the […]
Posted inThe Download
Perchance to dream
College campuses are anxiously waiting for President Trump’s decision on whether to dismantle or even substantially change the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA was an executive order from then-President […]
Posted inOpinion
Bus stops and the future of digital placemaking
THE TYPICAL URBAN BUS STOP is a miserable thing: a piece of metal attached to a pole; a strip of colored paint on a curb; a beaten-up shelter. Such bad […]
Posted inThe Download
Storm stirs the political pot
Government, according to a well-worn adage credited to Barney Frank, is the name for the things we decide to do together. Right now, aiding those affected by the devastation of […]
Posted inThe Download
What’s Amazon up to?
Amazon slashed the prices of a handful of items at its just-acquired Whole Foods chain, a move that garnered loads of publicity but shed little light on the online retailing […]
Posted inThe Download
Grateful for the generals
A hallmark of American democracy has always been that a civilian, the president, is the ultimate commander in chief of the armed forces. It is perhaps the strongest signal we […]
Posted inTransportation
T gives contractors night tour of bus garages
THE MBTA RECENTLY GAVE several private contractors a midnight tour of three of the authority’s bus maintenance garages, which the head of the local machinists union cited as symbolic proof […]
Posted inTransportation
Capuano backs T workers, lays off Baker
US REP. MICHAEL CAPUANO lent his support on Wednesday to MBTA bus maintenance workers who are fighting efforts to privatize some of their jobs, but the congressman didn’t join union […]
Posted inTransportation
Lack of public sector experience is troubling
THE APPOINTMENT OF LUIS RAMIREZ as the new general manager of the MBTA again raises the question of whether a successful private sector businessman or woman can make a successful […]
Posted inUncategorized
T privatization survives key union challenge
THE MBTA’S BUDGET SHORTFALL, once pegged at $335 million for the current fiscal year, is now down to $30 million. That’s good news for riders, taxpayers, employers, and legislators—really everyone […]
Posted inTransportation
Study prices out N-S Rail Link
A RAIL LINK BETWEEN North and South Stations would cost between $3.8 billion and $5.9 billion to build, according to a data analysis conducted by a group of students and […]
Posted inThe Download
Feds overreach on Teamsters
The feds came up short again on Tuesday in trying to turn obnoxious or even sleazy behavior into federal crimes. It happened when the US Attorney’s office in Boston tried […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA’s new GM likes to blog
NOT MUCH IS KNOWN about the MBTA’s new general manager, Luis Manuel Ramirez, but a blog he wrote at his Dallas business consulting firm TodoModo Group provides some clues. Most […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA adopts corporate mindset with GM pick
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION adopted a very clear corporate mindset at the MBTA on Tuesday, hiring a general manager and CEO with strong business and turnaround skills but no public sector […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump’s disruptive power
Donald Trump signed 42 executive orders in his first 200 days as president. By comparison, Barack Obama, who Trump criticized for signing too many, averaged 35 executive orders a year […]
Posted inTransportation
T board member hits absenteeism data
A MEMBER OF THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board criticized agency officials on Monday for presenting data on employee absenteeism in a way that made it appear union workers […]
Posted inTransportation
T approves 2 pilot service expansions
THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday approved two, year-long pilot projects expanding the transit authority’s operations – one that adds limited, early morning buses to help workers start into work […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA rejects WiFi commuter rail proposal
FACING PUSHBACK FROM LOCAL COMMUNITIES on the North Shore, the MBTA on Thursday abruptly rejected a commuter rail WiFi proposal that called for the installation of 320 poles each more […]
Posted inTransportation
Getting inside the T’s union talks
IN APRIL, THE MBTA’S Fiscal and Management Control Board passed a budget that called for $8 million in savings from the authority’s bus maintenance operations during the current fiscal year, […]
Posted inThe Download
NYC subway system looks to Boston
In case you missed it, the New York City subway system is in crisis mode, and officials in the Big Apple are looking to Boston for some answers. At the […]
Posted inTransportation
Mapping the T’s monopoles
Below is an interactive map developed by the MBTA showing the proposed locations of the 74-foot monopoles scheduled to go up along commuter rail lines to improve WiFi service on […]
Posted inThe Download
Here’s the Diehl
Geoff Diehl made it official last night by formally announcing his Republican run against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Somebody pass Charlie Baker the antacids. The Whitman state rep mixed his […]