“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.”

"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."

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.

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.

"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.

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.

“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.”

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.

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.

“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?”