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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Massachusetts lawmaker wants to divert control of commuter rail from MBTA
“Maura Healy hired a really good safety officer,” Thompson said. “It’s great that she hired really wonderful DPU commissioners, but it doesn’t solve this core problem of independent oversight that we have models of in the state and that the federal government is encouraging us to do.”
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Let's talk T: What's the future like for the MBTA?
We talk about the current developments with the T and then look ahead to its future. MBTA Advisory Board Executive Director Brian Kane joins us in studio, as well as local public transportation advocate Stacy Thompson and WBUR transportation reporter Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez.
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T: Machine that fell on Red Line passenger was last used in 2013
The MBTA has released more details about an incident that left one Red Line rider with minor injuries after a utility box fell from a column at the Harvard Square station. The transit agency said Monday’s incident was caused by “corrosion on the support straps that secured the box to the column.”
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Fare debate: Make buses free to all
The mounting nationwide data are quite clear—there are many benefits of eliminating fare collection, especially on buses.
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MBTA finishes safety inspections of its tracks, a key step toward trains returning to normal speed
“We want to understand: What did they discover?” Thompson said. “Were there problems that weren’t noted before? What were they tracking?”
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Mass. Lawmakers To Re-Introduce Legislation For Fare Free Public Transit
"The reality is free transit is working. We are seeing massive transit improvements in Boston, Merrimack Valley, and Worcester— these systems are bucking the trends of downward transit ridership that was happening before the pandemic," Thompson said.
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‘It’s now on their plate’: With Healey’s new hires comes new responsibility for the MBTA’s problems
“We are not looking for perfection, we are looking for people who will be engaged,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of Livable Streets, a local transportation advocacy group. “If people the Healey administration is appointing do the work we assume they will do, in a year or two the T will feel different to the riding public.”
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Possible Blue Line Shutdowns and Land O’ Lakes CEO Beth Ford
Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of “Livable Streets”, a group which advocates for equitable transportation solutions, talks about the MBTA possibly shutting down the Blue Line for repairs every night for a month.
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LivableStreets Alliance executive director on Boston’s free fare bus program
Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, an advocacy organization dedicated to making city streets more pedestrian-friendly, joined Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Thursday to talk about some of the lessons that could be learned from Boston.
“I don’t think transit is dead,” she said. “I think we need to meet the reality of where a thriving global city should be, which is moving 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in different directions for different reasons.”
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In the MBTA’s proposed $9.2 billion spending plan, transit advocates argue more funds are needed for expansion
Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, said the T must balance both near-term safety and maintenance, while also working on expansion.
“Things like expansion and resiliency are not extras, or nice to have. They should be considered core to the viability of the system,” Thompson said.
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On Eng’s first day, transit advocates hope new MBTA general manager can turn the agency around
“We need to hire enough bus operators that, by September, we’re running more service,” Thompson said. “It’s that simple.”
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New T GM promises to prioritize safety, reliability and staffing
“At this moment, I think riders really want someone who will help make sure the T just moves, just truly shows up on time, gets them to where they need to go,” Thompson said. “And I think that Philip Eng's general skills align with that desire.”
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