Jarred Johnson, who has led the Boston-based advocacy organization TransitMatters since 2019, has announced plans to leave the organization next month to join Toole Design, a planning and engineering firm that specializes in safer street designs for multimodal transportation.
The board of TransitMatters issued a press release Thursday morning to announce that the organization has begun planning a leadership transition, with a a search for a new Executive Director later this year.
In a statement, Johnson said that “leading TransitMatters has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’m deeply grateful for the amazing staff, volunteers, and supporters who’ve made this work possible. While I’m excited for the next chapter, I’ll always be invested in the future of this organization and proud of what we’ve built together.”
Under Johnson's tenure, TransitMatters helped advocate for converting the MBTA's commuter rail system, which had been overwhelmingly oriented for rush-hour office commuters, into a frequent-service "regional rail" service model with faster electric trains.
The organization also became renowned for collecting, analyzing, and publicizing detailed data on MBTA service on its data dashboard site.
In 2022, frustrated by the lack of transparency about the MBTA's deteriorating track conditions, the organization launched a Slow Zone Tracker website that used real-time location data from MBTA trains to pinpoint areas of the subway system where deteriorating track conditions prevented full-speed operation.
Publicizing that data revealed how extensive maintenance problems had become during the administration of former Governor Charlie Baker, and helped prompt a leadership change at the T.
The MBTA later embraced TransitMatters's idea with an official map of speed restrictions on its own website in early 2023, followed by an ambitious track improvement program to systematically eliminate speed restrictions from the subway system.
