THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is now acknowledging that the MBTA absenteeism information cited in a report by the governor’s special advisory panel probably overstated the problem and that the reported comparison […]
MBTA
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
Tax debates rage across New England, but not in Mass.
THERE ARE TWO TAX DEBATES happening in New England that are worth watching, both for their substance and political theater. In Connecticut, big business has declared war on Gov. Dannel […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
Fact-checking MBTA union’s radio ad
WHILE BEACON HILL engages in a high-stakes debate about the future of the T, the Boston Carmen’s Union is running ads on the radio that play loose with the facts. […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Imagining the transportation nightmares of Cape Cod and Western Mass.
Transportation problems in places like Cape Cod and Western Massachusetts get overshadowed in the handwringing over how the state’s economic fortunes unravel when the metro Boston transit system is out […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics, Transportation
Senate T vote is cause for optimism
I’M A PESSIMIST BY NATURE, which has proven to be a generally good trait because it means that I’m rarely disappointed. Today, however, I’ve allowed myself to lapse into a […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Senate approves tweaked T control board
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE late Thursday night agreed to put the MBTA under the management of a fiscal control board, tucking that measure into a $38.1 billion […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T union raises concern about outside contractor
THE MBTA RESTORED full service to the Orange Line in March but nevertheless shipped 24 disabled Orange Line traction motors to an outside contractor for repair. The T says it […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T union raises concern with outside contractors
THE MBTA RESTORED full service to the Orange Line in March but nevertheless shipped 24 disabled Orange Line traction motors to an outside contractor for repair. The T says it […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
MBTA pawn in the House-Senate proxy war
With the backing of the most powerful man in the Beacon Hill triumvirate, Gov. Charlie Baker may be inching closer to the formation of a temporary fiscal and management control […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Crunching the T’s numbers
In early April, the Boston Globe splashed a report across its front page about excessive absenteeism at the MBTA. Citing pages in a soon-to-be-released report from an advisory panel appointed by […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Straus: Eliminating MBTA as separate agency should be long-term goal
THE BEACON HILL tug of war over the MBTA continues to pit those who support Gov. Charlie Baker’s call for a special fiscal control board against those who think an […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Everett T land appraised at $2.76m
WYNN RESORTS PAID $6 million earlier this year for three small, vacant parcels of MBTA land in Everett that were appraised in 2013 for $2.76 million, according to documents released […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
New CW video: MBTA control board — savior or sideshow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoON8bqCCqY
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
McGee hedges on overturning union contract awards
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE SENATE’S POINT MAN on transportation issues hedged on Thursday on whether lawmakers will give the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board the power to reject an […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
The underinflated MBTA football
There should be as much handwringing about the MBTA as there is about Tom Brady and underinflated footballs. But there isn’t. MBTA riders are waiting on Gov. Charlie Baker and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download, Transportation
Senate guts Baker’s T plans
While the Legislature’s Transportation Committee was busy on Monday taking testimony on Gov. Charlie Baker’s MBTA reform bill, the Senate Ways and Means Committee was cutting to the chase and […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker presses lawmakers for T control board
Gov. Charlie Baker turned up the pressure on state lawmakers, appearing at a joint transportation committee hearing Monday flanked by former Chelsea and Springfield officials who expressed strong support for […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
MBTA numbers do matter
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK this week defended the accuracy of the absenteeism numbers contained in the MBTA advisory panel‘s report, but she did so in a way that was odd […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Time for action on MBTA
A FOG OF CONFUSION threatens to obfuscate the hard, persistent facts that ought to dominate our thinking about how to restore and rejuvenate our public transportation system. That confusion comes […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Scott: State should take over the MBTA
“THE MBTA NEEDS to be put out of its misery.” That’s the diagnosis from Beverly Scott, the former general manager of the MBTA. The MBTA doesn’t need a fiscal and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Pollack says dissolving T was considered
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SWEEPING ASIDE THE AGENCY that oversees metro Boston’s transit system and reassembling the bureaucracy was a path considered and rejected by a gubernatorial advisory panel, though […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, Transportation
Dissecting the T’s land deal with Wynn
THE FIGHT for the eastern Massachusetts casino license ended more than seven months ago, but it feels like the battle is still raging. Boston, Somerville, Revere, and Mohegan Sun are all […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T report misses mark on absenteeism numbers
ONE OF THE MOST ALARMING figures to come out of Gov. Charlie Baker’s MBTA panel report earlier this month was 57. That’s the average number of working days that T […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Lawmakers skeptical of MBTA control board plan
Can the Baker administration address the MBTA’s problems using the tools that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation already has? That was the question that the Joint Committee on Transportation wrestled […]