Watch: What does new federal oversight of MBTA say about Gov. Baker’s stewardship over the T?
Former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, joined Talking Politics host Adam Reilly to talk about what the federal oversight of the MBTA could mean for the agency's future and what it says about Gov. Charlie Baker's stewardship of the T up to now.
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Boston Public Radio full show: May 10, 2022
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson shared their thoughts on the Federal Transit Administration inspecting the MBTA after numerous safety incidents, and the potential for an East-West rail system.
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Feds’ Safety Review Could Impact Local Governance Over the T
“I do think that if the FTA comes in and says, here are 100 things you have to do on this timeline, and the T has to shift capacity to deal with those issues that are urgent, it could impact things like bus network redesign and fare equity work,” said Thompson.
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Fault in door control system cited in Red Line accident that killed man, NTSB report says
“I think there is a lot to learn from this moment,” Thompson said via e-mail. “It illustrates the real, and in this case, incredibly tragic consequences of chronically under investing in the T.”
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Coalition Rallies for Low-Income Fare Legislation
“We need a systemwide approach, and we need to do it this session,” said LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson.
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Boston mayor, others rally to push MBTA for low income fare program
"We believe that a pilot to kick this off could be less than $10 million, and we're looking at less than $100 million annually to pay for a system wide fare that would also include the commuter rail," Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance said.
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Service Changes Begin on Blue Line for MBTA's Harbor Tunnel Project
It’s a move that is also being supported by transportation advocacy groups like LivableStreets Alliance. Executive Director Stacy Thompson argued these improvements will help avoid some hiccups down the ‘track’
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Little mention of fatal Red Line incident at MBTA board of directors safety subcommittee meeting
“It’s unacceptable,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group. “What’s the point of the board? Someone died, there should be an immediate response. I would have liked to see the board ask for what the public can reasonably expect. It goes beyond a dereliction of duty. Someone died in a horrible way.”
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Transit Advocates Ask for Transparency From MBTA in Red Line Dragging Death
"Even if this is a one-off incident, it is alarming that we don't have more information at this point," said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the transportation advocacy group LivableStreets Alliance. "Many things had to go wrong for something this tragic to occur, and so I want to understand every step that went wrong, and I want to understand what the T is doing to make sure this never happens again."
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In two deaths of pedestrians by large vehicles, State Police reports found the victims at fault
Vehicle design standards focus on the safety of people inside the car, not outside, she said. “We have built cars that make it impossible to see humans,” Thompson said. “I think a punitive response wouldn’t fix this.”
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Six Months Later: Revisiting Roxbury's Bus-Only Center Lane
Kristiana Lachiusa is with the advocacy group LivableStreets. “So we spoke with a couple hundred riders back in December and overwhelmingly everyone we spoke to was like this is the greatest thing the MBTA has done,” Lachiusa said.
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Dorchester residents divided over fare-free bus program
Route 28’s ridership increased by 22% following the pilot, according to Stacy Thompson, executive director of the nonprofit LivableStreets Alliance. Additionally, 5% of people riding Route 28 said they would have driven a personally owned vehicle if not for the elimination of the fare. Although 5% may seem like a small margin, it has a significant impact on congestion, Thompson said.
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More cities are looking at making public transportation free
"Sometimes the choice between paying for a monthly pass means that you can’t buy groceries for your children," Thompson said in a recent Zoom interview.
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Transit Coalition: MBTA Riders Need Low-Income Fare Option
Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance and co-chair of the Transit is Essential Coalition, recommended a low-income fare program, where low-income Commonwealth residents could purchase reduced-cost tickets across the system.
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Tensions run high between Porter Square businesses, bikers over bike lane project
Kristiana Lachiusa, director of Transit + Outreach for LivableStreets Alliance and a resident of the Porter area, noted that the issue is broader than businesses versus bikes, because the corridor “isn’t really working well for anybody,” she said.
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Free T bus sped service, even got some to ditch cars — but saved few money, MBTA says
“This is why we are advocating for statewide free buses,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group. “The T is going to collect most of this money anyway, but there are so many other benefits we can implement.”
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Boston Public Radio full show: Feb. 15, 2022
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson discussed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s announcement of a two-year, fare-free program for MBTA bus routes 23, 28 and 29 beginning March 1, 2022, and how the program relates to Wu’s mission to make the T free. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the Transit Matters board and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Thompson is executive director of Livable Streets.
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Mayor Michelle Wu’s push for free buses is spurring other cities and towns to act
Riders of the 23, 28, and 29 buses are primarily people of color who have low incomes, according to a 2019 report from LivableStreets, a public transportation advocacy group. The routes travel along or intersect with Blue Hill Avenue, where the city plans to install center-running bus lanes.
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T oversight board light on oversight, transit advocates warn
“If the members aren’t asking hard questions, particularly around things like safety and finances, then what is their purpose?” asked Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group. “You have an opportunity to do so much, what are you doing with that role?”
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Three More Boston MBTA Bus Lines Going Fare Free: Wu
Each route serves a diverse ridership, and they all intersect with Blue Hill Avenue, which research and advocacy group Livable Streets Alliance identified as a corridor that should be prioritized for reliability improvements and increased ridership, the city said.
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New study touts pilot-to-permanent bus programs in Everett, Cambridge/Watertown, Everett
Other BRT-like programs include the Columbus Avenue center bus lane and new boarding platforms in Boston, which opened this past fall. A study by Livable Streets found that 78% of bus riders were satisfied with the new features, and a quarter said they ride the bus more now.
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The state is going to remake Memorial Drive. Public comment will help decide how it’s done.
Among the 26 groups signing the Memorial Drive Alliance’s comments were Green Cambridge, the Livable Streets Alliance, A Better Cambridge, the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, Cambridge Residents Alliance and Mothers Out Front.
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Report: The T could lose more than $30 million under new fare system
Stacy Thompson of LivableStreets Alliance also stressed the importance of equitable access and questioned why the T doesn’t have a complete low-income fare policy...
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Suffolk DA will not bring criminal charges in BU professor’s death at JFK/UMass station
“I don’t necessarily think that criminal charges would have resolved the underlying chronic, systemic issues within the state agencies that were involved with this,” Thompson said in an interview. “Typically, you only see criminal charges if there are one or two people who are verifiably involved. It’s just much harder to prosecute something that is about a system failure.”
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‘Woefully insufficient:’ Advocates fume after new T proposal doesn’t include new low-income fare
“This is woefully insufficient and hugely disappointing,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “I don’t see how they can justify these actions.”
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Bike lane backlash pushes Cambridge to consult with small business owners
Nonprofit Livable Streets’ executive director Stacy Thompson said on Boston Public Radio last week that bike- and bus-focused projects typically boost business.
“The data shows that two-thirds or more of people going to these businesses live in that community, walk, take bikes there or take transit,” Thompson said. “Where we’ve put down bus priority projects and bike projects, business has gone up for a lot of folks, because you have more people who can get to that business.
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175 ‘MBTA Communities’ will have to start increasing multi-family zoning this year
Stacy Thompson of the LivableStreets Alliance said the draft guidelines on the whole appear to do good, but she took issue with the fact that the plan doesn’t require a certain percentage of the units be affordable.
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Suffolk District Attorney Rollins launches criminal probe into MBTA
“The system had to fail at multiple levels for this to happen,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “It is frustrating that perhaps the only mechanism we have to deal with chronic lack of oversight is the DA taking this step . . . People cannot be getting hurt on our systems anymore.”
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Boston’s fare-free bus pilot program sets the stage for transit equity, advocates say
Following Boston City Council’s approval of Mayor Michelle Wu’s $8 million free bus expansion proposal last month, transit advocates Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to share how the two-year pilot program could spur change across the transit sector.
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: Jan. 3, 2022
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked about Mayor Michelle Wu’s transit agenda, including free fare pilot programs, and the problems with parking in the city. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the Transit Matters board and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Thompson is executive director of Livable Streets.
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