Elections and Politics
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State House Update: The Latest on E-Bikes, Low-Income Fares, and Automated Enforcement Bills
Some transportation advocates are looking at a new Senate climate bill as a way to advance more of their priorities, after the first draft of that bill neglected to include any policies that would expand transit services or promote biking or walking.
April 12, 2022
Transit Advocate Chris Dempsey Wants to Be Our Next State Auditor
“I think it’s been too long since we’ve had what you might call an urbanist in a statewide elected position in Massachusetts,” said Dempsey.
April 6, 2022
Bedford Town Meeting Narrowly Rejects Long-Planned Reformatory Branch Trail Upgrades
The Reformatory Branch is currently an unimproved and frequently muddy pathway for most of its length, and is only accessible to able-bodied hikers and mountain bikers.
April 5, 2022
A Fix for Chronic Transit Funding Shortfalls Could Be Up To the Voters This Fall
It's become an annual rite of spring: transit agencies across Massachusetts are examining blooms of red ink in their budgets for the next fiscal year, and wondering whether state lawmakers will step in and give them the funding they need to avoid service cuts.
April 1, 2022
Advocates Rally for E-Bike Legislation at Mass. State House
On Wednesday afternoon, a crowd of bike advocates and elected officials gathered on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to urge lawmakers to follow the example of 46 other states and formalize a new legal definition of and regulatory framework for pedal-assist electric bicycles.
March 30, 2022
How Transportation Issues Could Shape the Race to Replace Gov. Charlie Baker
The next governor of Massachusetts will enter office with another looming budget crunch at the MBTA, a historic amount of federal infrastructure money in play, mounting pressure to meet the state’s climate goals, and momentum for changing the way we pay for transit.
March 23, 2022
Governor Baker Files $9.7 Billion Transportation Bond Bill
At a press conference next to a highway overpass in Worcester on Wednesday, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced that his administration had filed a $9.7 billion transportation bond bill for the legislature's consideration.
March 17, 2022
STUDY: What A Lifetime of Car Ownership Costs — And Who Pays
The average motorist will pay a whopping $650,000 on the low end to own a car over his or her lifetime, and society will pick up over 40 percent of the tab, a new study finds.
February 9, 2022
The StreetsblogMASS 2021 Year In Review
From free buses to safer streets, we covered a lot of big transportation news in 2021.
December 29, 2021
Meet the New Chief: StreetsblogMASS Interviews Jascha Franklin-Hodge
"There’s a lot of traffic engineering that’s very data-driven, but it’s often data-driven in ways that are focused on vehicular movements and speeds and capacity... And sometimes that comes at the expense of asking, ‘What’s it like for a person who’s walking to the bus, and waiting on the corner for that bus?’ We don’t have metrics for that."
December 22, 2021
