A new report from the LivableStreets Alliance and Boston's office of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) establishes a clear agenda for the legislature, the MBTA's management, and municipal governments to improve the region's struggling bus system.

“If you’re looking for someone with a ton of expertise and someone with previous experience of the MBTA, Rick Leary would be an obvious choice to talk to or at least reach out to.”

“If you look at the data of where the slow zones are, for sure the Red line is going to have some sort of shutdown,” said Stacy Thompson, the executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance. “Do I think it’s going to be a whole line for 30 days? No. Do I think the public should be prepared for extended shutdowns that will impact their ability to get around? Yes.” 

Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, says pouring money into a project that had fallen out of favor was politically risky.

“For a public agency responsible for moving thousands of people every day to not communicate about this is unacceptable,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group. “They’ve already cut service so much that any further cuts dramatically impact a person’s ability to get where they need to go.”

“It’s entirely reasonable for a transit system to have various slow zones throughout the year. It’s common to do repairs,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance. “The reason it’s become a thing is because the T isn’t transparent about why.”

“I think the real question is, was the T transparent about the derailment when they had the information later on?” Thompson said. 

“Planning for something like this is a good thing, they’re probably looking at a pretty extensive slate of repair projects and haven’t figured out the mechanics of how they’re going to do it,” Thompson said. 

“Without a low-income fare, you’re just penalizing people because they can’t pay,” said Catherine Gleason of the alliance.

“We really want the MBTA to implement a reduced fare program,” said Catherine Gleason, program and policy coordinator at LivableStreets Alliance. She added that an evasion penalty system could disproportionately impact low-income riders, without the balance of lower-cost options.