THE MBTA IS $6 million richer after selling a 1.75-acre parcel of land to Wynn Resorts for the preferred entrance to its planned $1.7 billion casino-hotel complex in Everett. The […]
MBTA
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
What a ‘soft receivership’ for T would mean
LAST WEEK PIONEER Institute called for the MBTA to be placed in “soft receivership.” The purposes of this policy brief are to consider Massachusetts’ experience with two recent receiverships, and to […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker proposes T funding hike
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE TAXPAYERS WILL further subsidize the struggling MBTA under Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget proposal, which calls for a $64.5 million increase in funding for the agency, […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The hazing of Frank DePaola
“Thank you, sir, may I have another?” That is the infamous response from a pledge to the Omega fraternity in the movie Animal House as he gets whacked repeatedly with a […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Battle for MBTA’s soul underway
As the task to slice and dice the MBTA’s historic collapse gets underway, a battle royale has erupted anew between two camps of transportation influencers who can be loosely described as […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
A short and long-term plan
THE RECENT MBTA meltdown has impressed upon the general public the critical importance of a reliable transit system to their daily lives. The T’s utter failure to provide reliable service […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, Transportation
Baker creates MBTA commission
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER moved to put his administration’s stamp on the MBTA by appointing a special commission to investigate how past finance, maintenance, and management practices led to the wintertime […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker talks more broadly about the T
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER, who has avoided discussion of long-term solutions in favor of focusing on short-term fixes for the snow-battered MBTA, said Thursday he is not […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download, Transportation
Blizzard burying Olympics bid?
It’s easy to forget in the mind- and finger-numbing midst of Snowmaggedon about Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid – easy to forget, that is, if you don’t pay attention to everyone decrying […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
On Fairmount Line, opportunity knocks
THE BLIZZARD OF 1888 left Boston gridlocked, and over 1,000 people died in its wake. Tragic as the storm was, there was a substantial silver lining. This catastrophe is often cited as the impetus […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Beacon Hill’s MBTA fix: Let them ride the T
Nonplussed by the plight of the poor, a French aristocrat once said “let them eat cake.” With hundreds of thousands of people struggling during the MBTA’s winter crisis, Massachusetts legislative leaders […]
Posted inPolitics, Transportation
Rosenberg sees transportation disconnect
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG said on Tuesday that the problems at the MBTA are straight out of “Democracy in America,” the book Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in the 1800s which […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Gaming Commission challenge fails
A federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Caesars Entertainment against Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby. The ruling uses language that could spell trouble for […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Great Scott!
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott’s press conference on Tuesday was one of those rare moments in political life when an official just lets it rip. We in the press are […]
Posted inTransportation
Excerpts from Beverly Scott’s 26-minute press conference Feb. 10
I can sleep at night with no equivocation that to the extent we had information anyone that needed to have information had the information. We do not control Mother Nature….I […]
Posted inOpinion, The Back Story, Transportation
Five takes on the T
EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT the collapse of the T and wondering whether, to borrow a phrase from departing GM Beverly Scott, even God Jr. could get the trains running on time […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Put the T in receivership
THE MBTA IS broke and broken. It is structurally insolvent. Breakdowns and late arrivals are, indeed, unacceptable, but the bulk of the T’s troubles are not about Dr. Beverly Scott, who resigned […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Let’s not let this crisis go to waste
AFTER DECADES OF underfunding the T, it finally collapsed completely under the weight of repeated winter storms and, as I write this, is still badly crippled. The T does not […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Everything is riding on the T
THE SYSTEM-WIDE MBTA failures during the recent snowstorms should serve as a call to arms for everyone in Massachusetts. Quite literally, our prosperity is on the line. I’m not talking […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Slow-motion train wreck
There has always been a Through the Looking Glass unreality to how things work (or don’t) on the MBTA. So think of oversight of the moribund transit agency as something […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
MBTA chief steps down
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott submitted her resignation on Wednesday amid widespread service problems on the transit system in the wake of record snowfall, catching transportation […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Aloisi’s fixes for the T
THE RECENT MELTDOWN of MBTA service has left a lot of people wondering about its reliability as a mobility alternative for people, especially in harsh winter weather conditions. One of […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
MBTA still unsure when it can resume operations
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH ITS RAIL service shut down, MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott on Tuesday defended the transit system’s response to historic snow amounts and said she would […]