STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE 28-YEAR-OLD WOMAN who suffered injuries when she was struck by a falling utility box at the MBTA’s Harvard station this month is now suing the beleaguered transit authority. Thomas Flaws, a lawyer at Boston-based Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah Trial Attorneys, plans to file the lawsuit later Wednesday, the firm said in […]
Tracking Transportation
Posted inState Government, Transportation
Senate budget boosts RTA funding, backs fare-free buses
THE STATE’S 15 regional transit authorities, long considered a transportation afterthought on Beacon Hill, are suddenly all the rage. RTAs, which operate local bus networks across the state outside the MBTA’s service territory, have long had a line item in the state budget. After adjusting for inflation, however, the state’s basic operating support for the […]
Posted inTransportation
Stop the deaths at MBTA, parents tell lawmakers
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE CALLING FOR ACTION to “stop the pain and suffering,” the parents of a Boston University professor who died when he fell through a broken MBTA station staircase made an emotional call Monday for strengthening safety oversight of the under-fire transit agency. Debra Bingham and Kent Hamilton of Milton told lawmakers about […]
Posted inTransportation
New Bedford says MBTA is shortchanging the city
THE BOSTON GLOBEÂ reported on Sunday that New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell could derail the long-awaited South Coast Rail project by threatening to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of an MBTA eminent domain taking of five pieces of property in the city. According to the Globe, New Bedford officials even sent a draft legal complaint […]
Posted inOpinion
Fare debate: Make buses free to all
WHEN IT COMES to fare-free transit, there are endless opinions. The concept is often assumed to be a fringe idea or not viable in the long-term. Detractors question its benefits and worry that it may force public transit systems to choose between improving service and making it free. However, even before the pandemic accelerated the […]
Posted inOpinion
Fare debate: Give low-income riders a break
EVERY DAY, hardworking Massachusetts residents face a difficult dilemma: pay for transportation to get to work or afford basic necessities. This is an unfair and unnecessary burden on those who contribute to the economic prosperity of the state. On this International Workers Day, it’s time to take action and make public transportation affordable for our […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA addressing slow zones with track replacement
THE MBTAÂ says it expects to replace 10,700 feet of rail by the end of May on portions of the Blue, Red, and Green lines to address slow zones. The raw number is difficult to place in context without additional information, but it suggests the transit authority must complete a huge amount of track work over […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey appoints new transportation safety czar
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. MAURA HEALEY on Monday appointed veteran transit official Patrick Lavin, who worked on a 2019 independent report highlighting widespread safety problems at the MBTA, to a newly created safety role linking the T and other state transportation departments. Lavin will become the first-ever chief safety officer at the Department of […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA schedules slow zone work on Red Line
THE MBTA on Monday announced new steps to address slow zones caused by subway track defects that were apparently identified by routine rail scans but for some reason never addressed by transit authority personnel. The scope of the problem is coming into focus, even as its cause remains unclear. The problem surfaced in March when […]
Posted inState Government, Transportation
Taking a long view of the MBTA
NICHOLAS DAGEN BLOOM, the author of The Great American Transit Disaster, takes a long view of the current problems at the MBTA. In a new episode of the Codcast, Bloom, a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College in New York City, said public transit in Boston is currently at a low point, […]