THERE’S BEEN A lot of talk over the last five years about how to design the I-90 Allston project, but very little discussion about how to pay for it. The project, which has ballooned in cost well beyond $1 billion, involves replacing a badly deteriorated elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike on a narrow slip […]
Tracking Transportation
Posted inTransportation
MBTA ups sign-on bonuses by $3,000
THE MBTA said on Monday that it is increasing its sign-on bonus for new employees and expanding its reach beyond bus operators. The T said the previous sign-on bonus of $4,500 for bus operators has been increased to $7,500 and expanded to include rail repairers, track laborers, streetcar operators, subway train operators, service technicians, and […]
Posted inTransportation
Hiring may be the MBTA’s biggest challenge
THE MBTA’S subway operations control center is a microcosm of the challenges facing the transit authority. Last June, the Federal Transit Administration issued an initial safety report that said the control center was understaffed, leading to dangerously long work days . To deal with the situation, the T scaled back subway service to weekend levels […]
Posted inOpinion
The dirty secret about ‘clean’ electric vehicles
AUTOMOBILES EMIT tailpipe carbon emissions, we all know that, and these emissions in the aggregate are now the largest single source of carbon emissions in Massachusetts and many other states, surpassing the energy and building sectors. Efforts to reduce transportation sector emissions have rightly taken center stage as a matter of public policy, but the […]
Posted inTransportation
MBTA subway ridership takes hit with slow zones
THE BOTTOM FELL out of the public transit industry at the start of COVID, and it’s been a slow slog back for every agency – not just the MBTA. According to national subway data gathered by Chris Friend of the transit advocacy group TransitMatters, the MBTA for most of 2020, 2021, and the first half […]
Posted inTransportation
Is scrapping of bus service bad sign for South Coast rail?
THE SOUTH COAST’S only bus link to Boston is shutting down next month because ridership is so low, which is raising questions about the viability of commuter rail service to the region that is scheduled to begin later this year or early next year. DATTCO operates three-times-a-day bus service to Boston’s South Station and Copley […]
Posted inTransportation
Eng will be one of highest-paid transit execs in country
PHILLIP ENG, the new general manager and CEO at the MBTA, will be one of the highest paid transit authority executives in the country. Eng, who is starting his new job April 10, received a five-year contract with a base salary of $470,000 a year plus an “annual retention payment” of $30,000, according to the […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey brings in a transit professional to run the T
NEARLY FOUR MONTHS into her term, Gov. Maura Healey made what she described as the most important appointment of her time in office, naming Phillip Eng as the new general manager of the MBTA. Eng is a genial, straight-talking, optimistic 61-year-old engineer who has spent 40 years working in various capacities in New York transit […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey about to name new MBTA GM
GOV. MAURA HEALEY on Monday is expected to tap the retired president of the Long Island Rail Road as the MBTA’s next general manager. Phillip Eng left the commuter rail system a little over a year ago and has been working as an executive vice president of the LiRo Group, which advises on transportation, infrastructure, […]
Posted inOpinion
Pause the search for a new GM at the MBTA
THE SEARCH for a new MBTA general manager and all the hype around it is at best a distraction and, at worst, obscures the difficult work needed to turn around the system. Riders, and especially low-income riders, are bearing the brunt of a system in free fall and their safety and the restoration of pre-pandemic […]