THE MBTA’S OPERATING subsidy per passenger seemed to increase last year compared to the year before, but officials say the primary difference was in how the figures were calculated. In […]
Tracking Transportation
Keeping track of transportation
Posted inTransportation
No rush in replacing T’s general manager
THE HEAD OF THE MBTA’S oversight board declined to say on Monday whether the transit authority is looking to hire a new general manager. Joseph Aiello, the chairman of the […]
Posted inTransportation
T privatizes warehouse operations
THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday approved a $7.1 million contract with a Virginia-based company to privatize the warehouse and logistics operations of the transit authority. Officials said the contract […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
Baker plans to let Keolis contract expire
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHILE IT’S UNCLEAR who will be in charge of state transportation policy in six years, Baker administration officials said Thursday their plan would be to allow […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Standing in a train on a snowy evening
Whose trains these are I think I know. His office is high atop Beacon Hill though. He will not see me stopping here To watch the tracks fill up with […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
T parking revenue up 22%
THE MBTA’S PARKING REVENUE increased 22 percent over the last five months compared to the same period a year ago, reinforcing the notion that theft by employees of the T’s […]
Posted inTransportation
T addresses costly shutdown process
THE MBTA’S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER said on Monday the agency is moving up by 10 minutes the departure time for the last Green Line train from Heath Street so that […]
Posted inTransportation
T board raises competitive threat from Uber
IN THE MIDST OF A PRESENTATION on MBTA revenues, members of the T’s oversight board engaged in a debate about the threat to the transit agency posed by new transportation […]
Posted inTransportation
T ‘Picking Room’ taking a hike
THEY CALL IT THE PICKING ROOM, the place where T union employees go one at a time by seniority to pick their schedule for the next quarter by making marks […]
Posted inTransportation
T labor deal yields big wage savings
THE MBTA AND ITS LARGEST UNION announced a new labor agreement on Monday that offers an estimated $22 million a year in savings to the transit authority while putting core […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Provost: Six steps for GLX
ON DECEMBER 10, 2016, I was invited to give a presentation as part of a program titled “Reviving Federal Investment in Public Transit: Build Subways, not Submarines.” The program, held […]
Posted inTransportation
Curtatone on $50m GLX contribution
SOMERVILLE IS NOW officially on the hook for contributing $50 million to the MBTA’s $2.3 billion Green Line extension project, a first-of-its kind donation by a municipality for a transit […]
Posted inTransportation
T to replace all Red Line cars
THE MBTA DECIDED on Monday to replace all of the older Red Line cars in its fleet rather than just a portion of them, a move that is expected to […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Debunking the Track 61 plan
EFFECTIVE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION systems are those that excel at getting people to places they want to go. That may seem an obvious point but the two attributes that help make […]
Posted inTransportation
Dalton to bike proposed Green Line ext. path
John Dalton, recently hired to manage the Green Line extension project for the MBTA, is an avid biker, someone who in his previous job in Chicago biked or took public […]
Posted inTransportation
Lyft offering a ride to the T
MBTA OFFICIALS, ALREADY heartened by improvements in transportation for the handicapped by taxis and private ride-hailing companies, are entertaining a proposal from Lyft to launch late-night on-demand pick-ups that would […]
Posted inTransportation
T officials want janitor contracts cleaned up
MEMBERS OF THE board overseeing the MBTA lambasted the private vendors who took over the transit agency’s cleaning operations, suggesting the contracts should be voided after the companies cut back […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Glass ceilings don’t always remain shattered
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, what we take for granted was not always so. In a time when it seems unremarkable that a woman is leading the Commonwealth’s Department of Transportation, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T preparing to privatize call center
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA PLANS to go out to the market for private bidders to run its call center operations, which will likely be privatized, according to a […]
Posted inTransportation
Baker aide attends T board executive session
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER’S chief of staff attended a private, executive session of the MBTA’s oversight board on Monday, stirring speculation that a candidate for the T’s general manager’s post was […]
Posted inTransportation
S. Coast Rail oversight shifted from T to state
MASSACHUSETTS OFFICIALS on Monday shifted oversight of the South Coast Rail commuter rail project from the MBTA to the state Transportation Department and said they are now analyzing two route […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
South Station commuter rail accident unreported
A PREVIOUSLY UNREPORTED incident in which a commuter rail train that struck a bumper at South Station was similar to an accident in Hoboken, NJ, earlier in the fall that […]
Posted inTransportation
T eyes increase in executive salaries
DESPITE THE MBTA’s reputation as a wasteful state agency bloated with overpaid employees, the board that oversees the agency thinks upper management is underpaid and that low-balling those positions will […]
Posted inThe Back Story, Transportation
Lang: Keolis was on verge of walking away
A MEMBER OF THE MBTA’S oversight board said the transit agency’s commuter rail operator was on the verge of walking away from its $2.68 billion contract earlier this year when […]