BOSTON MAYOR MICHELLE WU, who has faced a steady stream of doubters wondering how she would make good on a campaign vow to bring about fare-free MBTA service, used her […]
Tracking Transportation
Posted inOpinion
Reverse the curse: pedestrianize Storrow Drive
IMAGINE STORROW DRIVE transformed: quiet, soot-free, no longer a wall between the Charles River and the Back Bay and Boston University. Imagine streams of e-bikes, trikes, adaptive bikes, roller-bladers, scooters, […]
Posted inTransportation
Could infrastructure bill put East-West rail on track?
“IT’S A REALLY big deal,” said Eric Lesser. The Longmeadow state senator seemed to be channeling Joe Biden’s famous line whispered to Barack Obama at the signing of the Affordable […]
Posted inTransportation
Strange bedfellows on fed infrastructure bill
THEY SAY politics can make strange bedfellows, and the vote over the weekend on President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was no exception. The bill passed 228-206 with the help […]
Posted inTransportation
Nonunion T employees get $1,000 pandemic bonuses
THE MBTA gave $1,000 bonuses in September to 400 nonunion employees in recognition of their service during the pandemic. The bonuses were approved by MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak and […]
Posted inTransportation
GLX manager Dalton wants to stay on
JOHN DALTON, the manager brought in from Chicago to oversee the construction of the $2.3 billion Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford, is looking to stick around after the […]
Posted inTransportation
‘Alarming trend’ of firearms at Logan checkpoints
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SECURITY WORKERS have caught firearms at Logan Airport checkpoints this year at more than twice the rate they did in 2019, part of what Massachusetts Port […]
Posted inOpinion
MBTA has a bad plan for electrification
THE MBTA says that it is committed to an emission-free future bus system, but its plans suggest otherwise. Recently, the T published a document justifying its decision to abandon its […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker commits to bridge linking Assembly Sq. and Encore casino
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION committed on Friday to build a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing the Mystic River and connecting Assembly Station on the Orange Line in Somerville to the grounds […]
Posted inTransportation
New T board likely to move at slower pace
THE NEW PERMANENT MBTA board of directors seems poised to move at a much more leisurely pace than its predecessor, the Fiscal and Management Control Board. Under the statute that […]
Posted inTransportation
T delays Green Line extension a second time
THE MBTA is once again delaying the initial opening of the Green Line extension into Somerville, this time because cramped quarters in a newly built facility for delivering electricity to […]
Posted inPolitics
Wu says local-option tax could help fund fare-free MBTA service
WHEN IT COMES to fare-free MBTA service, is Michelle Wu willing to put her money – or that of Boston residents – where her mouth is? The frontrunner in the […]
Posted inTransportation
New work week: Tuesday through Thursday
A NEW DASHBOARD showing average travel times on roadways coming into and out of Boston indicates more people working hybrid schedules are driving in the middle part of the week […]
Posted inTransportation
Fare-free Worcester buses called bright spot in transit recovery
THE BUS SYSTEM in Worcester, which went fare free in March 2020, has built back its ridership during COVID faster than any other transit system in Massachusetts, according to a […]
Posted inPolitics
Wu’s fare-free T: Fanciful notion or strategic thinking?
BEACON HILL LEADERS are showing little interest in one of Boston mayoral candidate Michelle Wu’s campaign priorities – making the MBTA fare free. At a State House press conference on […]
Posted inOpinion
Senator has shopping list for the T
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION is a public good, and all residents of the Commonwealth, especially low-income individuals and people of color, deserve equitable access to an affordable, reliable, and green transportation system. […]
Posted inTransportation
Some towns yearn for commuter rail silence
TO SOME, locomotives sounding their horns in advance of grade crossings are an important safety measure that also harkens back to railroad heydays gone by. To others, the horns are […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker appoints new MBTA board
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday announced the formation of a new seven-member board to govern the MBTA, with a state transportation veteran at the helm. The new board will be […]
Posted inTransportation
Poftak: T has some time to address finances
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ACKNOWLEDGING IN THE WAKE of a tumultuous month that a series of safety improvements have been “not enough,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Tuesday that […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t replace electric trolley buses in N. Cambridge
THE MBTA’S BUS electrification plans, which set a misplaced priority on replacing existing zero-emissions electric trolleybuses in North Cambridge, fail to respond to the urgent need to begin reducing emissions […]
Posted inTransportation
Why we need fare-free public transportation
Earlier last month, I spent two full weeks on public transit across Massachusetts. My mornings started the way they always do; racing to the Blue Line to get my son Mac to […]
Posted inTransportation
Allston I-90 price tag $400m higher than in Nov.
This story has been corrected to state that the price tag is $400 million higher. STATE TRANSPORTATION officials put a $1.7 billion price tag on the Allston I-90 project on […]
Posted inTransportation
Is it the man or the money?
FOR SEVERAL YEARS, state transportation officials have raised objection after objection to the at-grade option for the narrow throat section of the I-90 Allston project running between Boston University and […]
Posted inTransportation
State embraces all-at-grade Allston project
AFTER YEARS of indecision, the Baker administration on Wednesday took a major step to move the stalled $1.7 billion I-90 Allston project forward, embracing an all-at-grade replacement of the Turnpike, […]
