STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With a final decision far off, the chief advocate for building a train tunnel beneath downtown Boston and the skeptic from the Baker administration agreed on […]
Transportation
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
$20.4m Comm Ave reconstruction approved
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE TRANSPORTATION OVERSEERS on Monday gave the go-ahead for a $20.4 million reconstruction along Commonwealth Avenue between Brookline and Boston, which will include building cycle tracks […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
$14.8b transportation capital plan OK’d
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AMID CONCERNS about state borrowing levels, state transportation officials on Monday tacked on another roughly $500 million to the state’s five-year capital investment plan, approving a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Ride-sharing showdown looms
The Massachusetts Senate is slated to unveil its ride-sharing bill this week, which should provide a hint of how contentious the negotiations between the two branches will be as the […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Taxi medallion owners under water and drowning
Few tears are being shed for taxi medallion owners but there’s no denying they’re being squeezed into oblivion by Uber and Lyft. But the ripple effects are going beyond, with […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
The ghost of Stephanie Pollack
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack has plenty on her plate with trying to distribute a finite pot of money to deal with state’s aging transportation infrastructure as well as find the […]
Posted inTransportation
AAA says marijuana OUI laws useless
THE RESEARCH ARM of AAA says states that set legal limits for marijuana driving impairment have no scientific basis for the standards and urged a national effort to adopt uniform […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Is the Green Line Ext. back on track — or not?
The Boston Globe’s headline was “State OK’s a cut-down Green Line extension.” The Boston Herald went with “Green light for $2.3 billion MBTA extension plan.” CommonWealth’s take was: “Boards give […]
Posted inTransportation
T takes risk with new construction method
IN AN ECHO of the recent debacle over ballooning costs for the Green Line extension, the MBTA is eyeing yet another public construction method the agency has little experience with […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Green Line Ext. is really an innovation extension
WHAT DO ALTAEROS ENERGIES, Voxel8, and Autonomous Marine Systems have in common? For starters, they’re all startup companies developing “firsts” in their respective fields: the world’s first fully-functional airborne wind […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Whither Boston?
THE RECENT DECISION of the IndyCar promoters to pull out of Boston was met by some with relief, by others with dismay. I was not a fan, and I was […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Riders confess to fare evasion
How does the MBTA figure out how many commuter rail riders aren’t paying their fares? It asks them. A survey of 1,655 commuter rail riders at the beginning of March […]
Posted inTransportation
The T wants you – to snitch
THE MBTA’s COMMUTER RAIL operator thinks it has a secret weapon in the effort to recoup as much as $35 million in lost revenues from fare evasion – snitches. That […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
T pension fund has negligible gains
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA RETIREMENT FUND, which set its assumed annual rate of return on investments at 7.75 percent, will probably earn about a half-percent of return in 2015, […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Uber and out for taxi protectionism?
Years from now, public policy students or perhaps cultural anthropologists will sift through the history of the current debate in our capital city over what have become known as ride-hailing […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
Pump slump good for government
FALLING FUEL PRICES may be wreaking havoc in oil-producing countries, but they are bringing smiles to drivers in Massachusetts and helping state and local officials keep their budgets in balance. […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Race to the bottom
Straphangers the world over think their transit system is the worst and in Boston, we take a backseat to no one in holding out examples about why we’re number 1 […]
Posted inTransportation
Judge says Uber, Lyft should be treated like taxis
A FEDERAL JUDGE on Thursday ordered Boston officials to explain what regulations they plan to implement on ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to treat them like cabs until […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Grabauskas lands in familiar territory
In his time in Massachusetts, Dan Grabauskas earned a reputation as a Mr. Fix-It in Republican administrations. He was, at varying times, Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Secretary of Transportation, and […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
DOT capital plan earmarks most money to improvements
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE’S TRANSPORTATION department would devote 80 percent of its more than $14.3 billion capital dollars to system improvement and modernization with roughly equal investments in […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
All aboard the transparency train
Who you gonna believe, us or your lying eyes? That seems to be the stance the overseers of the secretive MBTA Pension Fund had been taking as more and more […]
Posted inState House News Service, Transportation
House passes ride-sharing legislation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Despite concerns raised by both taxi drivers and the newer app-based ride companies competing with them for passengers, the Massachusetts House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Hail to the T’s Control Board
The five members of the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board are the most intriguing people in state government right now. They work long hours for no pay and take […]
Posted inTransportation
T hikes fares despite angry takeover
THE MBTA OVERSIGHT BOARD ON MONDAY approved a fare increase of more than 9 percent starting July 1 despite angry, vocal protests that disrupted the hearing and forced board members to […]
