On Tuesday, the Massachusetts House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means jointly announced a transportation finance framework. Upon close review, there is more (or really less) to the supposedly budget-minded proposal than meets the eye. In short, the legislature’s answer to MassDOT’s ten-year transportation plan would neither be big enough (it does not even…
2013
2012
Logan Airport Silver Line Service: A Test For More to Come?
The Boston Globe yesterday reported on the fact that Silver Line buses between the Airport and South Station will be free starting tomorrow for a period of at least ninety days. You are probably wondering how the MBTA can afford giving away rides. Isn’t the T still staring a $161 million operating budget deficit for FY13…
2012
Mind the Gap: MBTA To Hike Fares, Leave Passengers Behind
The MBTA is broke – and, for that matter, broken. According to the MBTA, it is facing a $161 million dollar budget gap. So bad is the MBTA’s financial situation that, last year, it resorted to using hairnets to protect trolley motors.