It has come to this: The fate of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority lies with a fiscal and management control board tasked with rebuilding the legendarily feckless public transportation system […]
MBTA
Posted inTransportation
What the T fiscal control board needs to do
NOW THAT THE MBTA’S fiscal control board is in place – a board that reflects a consensus approach to creating an additional power center at 10 Park Plaza – we […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
MBTA to use fines to improve commuter rail customer service
MBTA OFFICIALS KNOW that commuter rail riders hate late trains. They also get an earful about conductors who fail to collect fares and the passengers who evade paying them. So […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Pioneer, the Pacheco law, and the revenge of the Blue Mass Group nerds
The MBTA is an easy target for critics. The Greater Boston transit system seems to be the only state agency operating with a permanent bulls-eye on it. The Pioneer Institute […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
With Pacheco law, it’s all about the narrative
Sen. Marc Pacheco, author of a 1993 law that became the focus of the behind-the-scenes wrangling over the 2016 state budget, says people forget the context in which the measure […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Disrupting business as usual @ the MBTA
For MBTA riders, life on the T during the Wednesday morning rush was perfectly normal. There were “moderate” disabled-train delays on the Orange Line, signal problems on the Green Line, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Defining the Pacheco law
The temperature is rising on Beacon Hill in the battle over reforms to the much maligned MBTA. The Globe’s David Scharfenberg reports today that both sides in the T debate […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Reaching an MBTA consensus
IN 1990, when John Silber became the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, I supported Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci in their gubernatorial bid. I’ve been a lifelong Democrat (although lately […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
DeLeo vows more T reforms
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO said the body will continue to fight for MBTA management reforms favored by Gov. Charlie Baker both in ongoing budget negotiations and […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker rules out new taxes for the T
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday announced an $83 million winter resiliency plan for the MBTA, urged the Legislature to pass a separate package of management reforms, and ruled out new […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
Baker administration revises T absence rate
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 […]
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 […]
