STATE OFFICIALS TURNED TO OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS on Wednesday for help in deciding whether they should build the Green Line extension to Somerville and also ordered the MBTA not to approve […]
MBTA
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
A tale of two transit systems
OUR FUTURE, ROBERT KENNEDY ONCE SAID, lies beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. This was an optimistic view of our ability to anticipate (rather than […]
Posted inTransportation
T refuses to release Green Line report
STATE TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS are refusing to release a consultant’s report on what went wrong with a contract for the Green Line extension to Somerville, saying the document “was prepared under […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Straus offers up T financing plan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS MBTA OVERSEERS consider paths forward for the Green Line Extension, a top House official has proposed a locally-based financing scheme for that and other transportation […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
T gets an “F” for its contracting approach
A consultant hired by the MBTA said the transit agency got played by the firm hired to build the Green Line extension to Somerville as a contracting approach designed to […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Consultant: T got snookered on Green Line
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE ENABLED a major contracting group to take advantage of it, leading to ballooning Green Line Extension costs, according to a consultant brought in to assess […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Rosenberg warns T on fare hike
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH MBTA FARE HIKES on the table to address a budget gap and repair backlog at the public transit system, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said Monday […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Keolis GM knows winter is coming
GERALD FRANCIS, the general manager of Keolis, the French company that operates the MBTA’s commuter rail system, is a man with an ambitious plan. He wants to make Eastern Massachusetts […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
T ad policy tries to steer clear of controversy
The MBTA, which already has its hands full trying to transport passengers across eastern Massachusetts, on Monday tried to avoid being drawn into ancillary ideological battles by banning controversial advertisements. […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
T bans political, e-cigarette ads
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT surfaced Monday as a central theme in two protests: one speaking out against an ad on the MBTA that some say is designed […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Pollack: More Green Line funds needed
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION is to press ahead with the Green Line Extension project, the Legislature will likely have to authorize additional bonding next year […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Baker still Mr. Popularity, but his T is not
CHARLIE BAKER WALKS on water. Earlier this year, National Journal dubbed him “the most popular politician in America,” and he remains close to those lofty heights today. He has a sparkling […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
No MBTA fare hike until service improves
IF YOU DOUBT FOR A MINUTE that we continue to be mired in a mid-20th Century way of thinking about transportation, consider this: in a state that recently went to […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Senate, House split on T fare hike size
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ACTIVISTS AND KEY SENATORS say a 2013 tax law capped fare hikes at the MBTA at 5 percent every two years, while a key House lawmaker […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Straus says MBTA can raise fares 10 percent
One of the leaders of the Legislature’s transportation committee said Tuesday that state law allows the MBTA to raise fares 10 percent next year, twice the level that transit advocates […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Deficit-ridden MBTA eyes energy savings
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BESET BY BILLIONS of dollars in unmet capital needs and persistent operating budget deficits, the MBTA is poised to save money in electricity procurement. At an […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Baker is better barometer on MBTA fare increases
In 2013, state lawmakers gave the MBTA the go-ahead to raise fares at predictable intervals in order to boost its bottom line and put riders on notice about the timing and […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
In search of the root cause of the T’s problems
Did anyone seriously think MBTA officials would present a solution to the Green Line extension problem at Wednesday’s meeting of the Department of Transportation’s Board of Directors? Or go beyond hope […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T eyes new revenue-raising efforts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE GOAL OF BOOSTING its own-source revenues by about $40 million, the MBTA is looking at hiking parking fees, converting surface lots into developments, and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Overlords of the MBTA
Photographs by Michael Manning THE NAME JOSEPH AIELLO probably means nothing to most MBTA riders. But the first major snowstorm might change that. Aiello is the chairman of the five-member […]
Posted inTransportation
The T’s chief tweeter
When did you start at the T and where did you come from? I started in November 2011. I came from outside the authority. I had just gotten my masters […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
MBTA’s alcohol ads trial balloon deflating fast
The MBTA needs every dollar that it can get, but probably not the ones from ads for “demon rum.” Several years ago, a youth-led, public health coalition lobbied MBTA general […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Heads up, the MBTA is hurting, keep moving
The first report of the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board is a grim catalogue of the dire realities facing the transit system. Much is already known: operating expenses outstrip revenues […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
DeLeo backs north-south rail link
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SAYING IT WOULD BE A “TERRIBLE MISTAKE” for the state to embark upon an expansion of South Station at the expense of a rail tunnel linking […]