MBTA web update means riders can no longer add value to cards online
"I think a lot of people mid-November are going to be shocked that they can't do this online. And I really wish that there had been a stronger effort to get the word out."
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Pilot eyed to introduce traffic enforcement by camera in Massachusetts
"Generally, we feel that the bill that you have before you is designed to ensure that this type of camera enforcement is first and foremost used as a tool to reduce dangerous driving behavior and has several good provisions to reduce any potential harms or abuses that we have seen in other communities that use cameras,"
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Legislature’s Latest Attempt for Automated Traffic Enforcement Is Missing the Bus
"There are cameras that send people bills in the mail for their highway tolls," said Thompson. "We have automated toll enforcement, but this bill does a much better job of protecting privacy."
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Boston pedestrian deaths down, emissions lagging goal, says report
Boston has made “promising, but uneven” progress toward its 2030 mobility goals, according to a report released by nonprofit organization LivableStreets.
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Halfway to 2030, How’s ‘Go Boston’ Going?
A progress report from the LivableStreets Alliance finds that the City of Boston deserves credit for making streets safer, but also warns that there's been essentially no progress in the past two decades in cutting the 1.9 million metric tons of climate pollution that the city's motor vehicles emit on an annual basis.
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The MBTA wrestles with transparency
Stacy Thompson, executive director of advocacy group Livable Streets, discusses the MBTA's transparency issues after the MBTA removed a transparency-oriented MBTA podcast it posted.
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For Boston riders, transit woes continue to pile up
"Charlie Baker was handed a system that he knew was underfunded, and his approach was to starve the system instead of going to the legislature for appropriate resources. I do think he bears responsibility for not even trying,”
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THE MBTA’S REVOLVING DOOR
“If most of the team is from inside [the MBTA], you’re not getting that outside perspective that’s pretty desperately needed right now.”
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MBTA pauses nearly all contractor work on tracks for 48 hours after fed crackdown
“I unfortunately think that the FTA is following an old playbook, where they sort of just stopped work, ask agencies to send them more paperwork and don’t offer meaningful solutions,”
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Eng announces shake-up in MBTA leadership, including new safety chief
“Now there are clear leadership structures internally where we'll know if something goes wrong, who was responsible for those challenges,”
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LivableStreets Hosts ‘Tour de Streets’
“We’re an access and equity organization, and the way we achieve those goals is by focusing on our largest shared public spaces, which are our streets,”
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Here's why the T is so slow, according to a new report
We answer the basic questions about the report with insights shared by Stacy Thompson of the advocacy group LivableStreets and Boston Globe transportation reporter Taylor Dolven during a conversation with WBUR's Radio Boston.
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Healey’s Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca out after less than a year
“In any administration, there’s always the first secretary to go. So this just happens to be Gina Fiandaca,”
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Mass. transportation secretary will step down fewer than eight months after she started. Why?
“This job,” Thompson said, “is less about ribbon cuttings and more about operations.”
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Fiandaca Departing After Short Stint As Transpo Secretary
"But we didn't really see Gina out front a lot," she said. "It's hard to exactly name what she was or was not doing."
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Know anyone who wants to be chief safety officer at the MBTA?
“He walked into the middle of a pandemic which turned into an abject safety crisis under an administration that wasn’t willing to give him the resources he needed,”
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MBTA's chief safety officer resigning this month, GM says in letter
Hear what LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson, and others, had to say on the MBTA's chief safety officer resigning.
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Millionaire’s Tax targeted to close loophole, too soon critics say
“Everyone is very well aware of the challenges the MBTA is facing right now and the literal billions of dollars of work they need to do. But we have 15 regional transit authorities across the state. Many do not have money to run evening and weekend service,”
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Can’t find a spot? Parking in Boston neighborhoods leaves many people ‘screwed’
“We need to charge for parking, and we need to limit the number of cars households can have. That’s the way to do it and that doesn’t make people happy. But that’s the most effective way,”
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The T and the tunnel
The Sumner Tunnel is closing for nearly two months, beginning in early July, to allow for repairs. Can the beleaguered T pick up the slack?
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Boston bike lanes plan draws opposition: The proposed routes would be ‘deadly’
“There’s almost no bus or bike project that happens in the metro Boston region that there isn’t some group that believes it will somehow cause more congestion or make it harder for them to get around,” Thompson said. “It’s part of a bigger backlash that we see in Boston, and frankly, cities around the country.”
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Forget charts and bar graphs. Turn data into a play, ‘make them more human’
“We need to be able to have these really heady quantitative conversations with people who understand these nitty-gritty metrics. But then when we move back to the community, it’s really about storytelling.”
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Worcester’s Got Skin in Allston I-90 Rebuild, Say Biz Leaders
“We have a year to get this right,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of transit advocacy group LivableStreets, citing the Biden administration’s ambitious infrastructure plans under the Inflation Reduction Act. “If we don’t take this moment now, we’ve missed a generational opportunity. We don’t have another decade.”
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As driving-related casualties mount, what would make Massachusetts roads safer?
Adam Reilly discusses with Brendan Kearney, the deputy director of WalkMassachusetts, and Stacy Thompson, the executive director of Livable Streets.
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New records show the close calls on MBTA tracks that prompted federal safety demands
Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a nonprofit transportation advocacy organization, said preventing the close calls that caught the attention of federal regulators requires focusing on basic principles like training and procedures.
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MBTA facing new scrutiny, deadline on worker safety from federal officials unhappy with plan
Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, said that if the T failed to meet the FTA’s requirements, federal regulators wouldn’t likely make a move that could shut down service. Instead, they would be more apt to increase safety oversight of the state agency.
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Is the T transparent about its shortcomings?
Transit advocates have long criticized the MBTA's approach to communications. Can a new general manager and a new chief communications officer change the agency's relationship with riders?
Stacy Thompson of Livable Streets, along with State Representative Mike Connolly, join us to discuss.
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Boston cyclists hope more commuters give two wheels a spin
On a recent morning, dozens of people zoomed through the city's bike paths. They ranged from "younger folks, older folks, people in spandex, people dressed for work, the whole gambit of folks," said Stacey Thompson, executive director of the nonprofit LivableStreets.
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We "T" off on the latest headlines for the MBTA
Smoldering wires in a Red Line station. A no-bid contract awarded to the state secretary of transportation's former brother-in-law. A controversial land buy near South Station. We check in on the MBTA. Congressman Seth Moulton joins us, along with transportation advocates Stacy Thompson and Chris Dempsey.
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Proposed bill would create new commission to oversee MBTA safety
LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson supports the measure. “This is about multiple industries that [DPU officials] oversee and regulate, and making sure that there is a transparent, independent body that can look at all of those issues and make sure that we are regulating them in the most safe way.”
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