2020
Click a tag to read articles related to that program area.
February 18th, 2020 
How Baker’s $1 charge on Uber and Lyft rides might affect your commute
Louisa Gag, Public Policy and Operations Manager for LivableStreets, served on the task force that collaborated with Somerville city staff to produce the plan. "It's a big long plan with a lot of action items. City staff worked really hard to vet the goals with various city departments to make sure the plan is realistic and achievable, but also ambitious," said Gag.
February 14th, 2020
Will We Fall for Gondolas Again?
Louisa Gag, Public Policy and Operations Manager for LivableStreets, served on the task force that collaborated with Somerville city staff to produce the plan. "It's a big long plan with a lot of action items. City staff worked really hard to vet the goals with various city departments to make sure the plan is realistic and achievable, but also ambitious," said Gag.
February 10th, 2020
State ponders Allston road project, a potential traffic nightmare for MetroWest drivers
"Speakers at Monday’s meeting pushed for MassDOT to ensure that the planned new West Station commuter rail stop would have four tracks, not three, to meet potential future growth in demand. They also warned that limiting service on the Worcester Line during construction while simultaneously constricting the Turnpike will create commuting headaches with no relief.
“As a congested state, we cannot push more people onto that road,” said Ari Ofsevit, the project lead for the Livable Streets Alliance."
February 10th, 2020
Where Should Massachusetts’s Next Car-Free Street Be?
"As LivableStreets has been saying for more than a year – Congress Street is an ideal location to implement full Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)… Congress street has the potential to become the literal heart (geographically speaking) of the transit, walking, and biking transformation that is taking hold in Metro Boston." - Stacy Thompson
February 4th, 2020
Baker Bill Would Reduce Penalties for MBTA Fare Evasion
“The need for stricter enforcement of bus only infrastructure has been elevated as more and more cities and towns implement bus priority infrastructure,” LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson said in an email. “While we are supportive of better bus lane enforcement we hope the State will also explore camera enforcement which is utilized in New York City.”
February 3rd, 2020
Baker Bill Would Ease Penalties For Fare Jumping On The T, Ding Drivers In Bus Lanes
"The need for stricter enforcement of bus only infrastructure has been elevated as more and more cities and towns implement bus priority infrastructure," LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson said in an email. "While we are supportive of better bus lane enforcement we hope the State will also explore camera enforcement which is utilized in New York City."
February 1st, 2020
Baker Calls for Lower Fines for MBTA Fare Evasion
"Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, said some drivers simply ignore signs designating bus-only lanes and there should be consequences.
“It’s a really important first step,” she said."
January 30th, 2020
Somerville Seeks Feedback For City's First Vision Zero Action Plan
Louisa Gag, Public Policy and Operations Manager for LivableStreets, served on the task force that collaborated with Somerville city staff to produce the plan. "It's a big long plan with a lot of action items. City staff worked really hard to vet the goals with various city departments to make sure the plan is realistic and achievable, but also ambitious," said Gag.
January 14th, 2020
Cities Offer Free Buses in Bid to Boost Flagging Ridership
LivableStreets Alliance, a transit advocacy group in the Boston area, estimates all Massachusetts transit agencies could make bus service free for $60 million a year, including Boston’s. That translates to a 2-cent increase in the state gasoline tax, the advocacy group said.
January 14th, 2020
Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not?
Proponents of the idea argue that . . . the true replacement cost would be closer to $36 million. That gap, they say, could be covered by a 2-cent rise in the gas tax.
"That's where something controversial or impossible a few years ago now seems possible," said Stacy Thompson, the executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, a transportation research group.
January 14th, 2020
Memos to Mayor Walsh on the state of the city
In last week’s State of the City address (“Mayor calls for bolder action on transportation, housing,” Page A1, Jan. 8), Mayor Martin J. Walsh tasked the Boston Police and Transportation departments to “implement a plan to strengthen traffic enforcement” in Boston. As bicycle and pedestrian advocates on the city’s Vision Zero Task Force, we have some suggestions on what should be included in that plan." - Stacy Thompson, LivableStreets Stacey Beutell, WalkBoston Becca Wolfson, Boston Cyclists Union
January 10th, 2020
Marty Walsh says he likes the idea of making the MBTA free. But he has one big concern.
As the Globe recently reported, the Livable Streets Alliance estimated that making MBTA buses free could cost as little as $36 million a year. The Boston-area transit advocacy group also reportedly estimates that making public buses free across Massachusetts could be covered by a 2-cent increase in the state's gas tax (Walsh, for his part, supports a 15-cent increase in the tax).
January 7th, 2020
Crowded, Obsolete Garages Hamstring T's 'Better Bus' Ambitions
Advocates have identified MBTA's crumbling bus garages as the major limiting factor that prevents better bus service. In the "64 Hours: Closing the Bus Equity Gap" report published in September, the LivableStreets Alliance wrote that "the MBTA's service standards are hamstrung by the size of its vehicle fleet… Without addressing the bedrock issue of the MBTA's bus fleet size and garage facilities, all riders will continue to be underserved.
January 7th, 2020
Expert Opinion: A transportation vision for the 2020s
The classic New England village was built around walking, and communities across Massachusetts would benefit from doubling down on that strength in the 2020s. In Greater Boston, this includes borrowing from Olmsted's Emerald Necklace to create an Emerald Network of shared-use walking and biking paths that connect the region's diverse neighborhoods and job centers.
January 6th, 2020
The Wild Idea of Making MBTA Buses Free is Gaining Traction
"To me, this is not a giveaway," said Stacy Thompson of the Livable Streets Alliance. "This is really about how do you make the bus system more efficient and more desirable with the resources we have today." Supporters, however, argue that eliminating fares on local MBTA bus routes could be done on the relative cheap: maybe as little as $36 million a year, according to an estimate by the Livable Streets Alliance. That number, which does not include the Silver Line or long-distance express routes, reflects the fact that a huge portion of MBTA bus riders transfer to the subway, paying $2.40 for a combined trip, or hold a monthly bus-subway pass, and would continue to pay for the train service even with free buses. Making most buses free on the T and every other public bus system in the state could be covered with a 2-cent gas tax increase, according to Livable Streets.
January 6th, 2020
Advocates Call for T Control Board Extension
On the TransitMatters Codcast hosted by CommonWealth magazine, Jim Aloisi, the former transportation secretary and TransitMatters board member; Josh Fairchild, the co-founder and president of TransitMatters; and Stacy Thompson, the executive director of Livable Streets, looked back at 2019 and forward to 2020. They predicted the Legislature would pass a transportation revenue package and assembled a wish list of fairly predictable initiatives they would like to see action on.