It’s Decision Day for MBTA Service Cuts: Here’s What to Watch
To help fill a $600 million budget gap, the agency has proposed eliminating ferry service, ending dozens of lower-ridership bus routes, eliminating commuter rail service on nights and weekends, and closing several rail stations, including a portion of the Green Line in Mission Hill.
December 14, 2020
Rep. Pressley Calls on Feds to Fund Highways, Transit Equally
Since 1982, federal transportation funding has been governed by the "80-20 split," which restricts the federal Department of Transportation from spending more than 20 percent of its Highway Trust Fund money on transit projects, leaving the majority of federal funding for highway projects.
December 11, 2020
Guest Column: Experience Shows That ‘Temporary’ Transit Cuts Often Become Permanent
Across the U.S., transit agencies often roll out deep service cuts under the guise of “temporary” service adjustments. Sadly, these cuts are rarely reversed. Whether it’s cutting late-night bus routes, lower-ridership subway lines or historic trolley networks, these services almost never return, especially in times of a budget crisis, because it’s far easier to stop service than build it back.
December 11, 2020
Malden Joins the Dedicated Bus Lane Club
Malden, in collaboration with the MBTA and MassDOT, has painted a red shared bus-and-bike lane on Florence Street northeast of the Malden Center Orange Line station to benefit the MBTA's routes 104, 105, and 99.
December 10, 2020
Highway Teardowns Make Great Investments
In a groundbreaking new policy proposal, nonprofits Transportation for America and Third Way recommended that the next administration create a new, $5-billion competitive grant program that states could draw on to tear down their misguided downtown highways and redevelop the land that’s left behind in better ways.
December 10, 2020
Checking the T’s Math, Advocates Cast Doubt on Need for Transit Cuts
Proposed service cuts would have a massive impact to the T's riders, but would make a relatively minor dent in the T's budget shortfall.
December 8, 2020
Our Next Book Club Event Discusses ‘Right of Way’ with Angie Schmitt
Schmitt’s book provides a detailed investigation into how pedestrian deaths have increased by 50 percent in the past decade, and how our nation's persistent patterns of racism and economic inequality play into this under-reported public health crisis.
December 7, 2020
How have pandemic bus lanes worked out in Chicago, Boston, and SF?
Boston and its surrounding suburbs have added 14 miles of bus lanes during the pandemic.
December 4, 2020
Poll Finds Strong Statewide Opposition to MBTA Cuts
64 percent of poll respondents oppose the MBTA's "forging ahead" service cuts, which include the elimination of 25 bus routes, ferry service, and weekend commuter rail service.
December 3, 2020
Green Line Amputation: T Cuts Would Mothball Light Rail in Mission Hill
The shortening of the Green Line would eliminate 5 stops along a 0.75 segment of Huntington and South Huntington Avenues, the only remaining segment of the T's rapid transit network where trains share space with cars and trucks.
December 2, 2020