Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked about the return to pre-pandemic levels of traffic and highlighted various ways that the MBTA Commuter Rail could alleviate congestion.

Transit advocates with the Livable Streets Alliance estimate that eliminating bus fares in the Boston region would cut $33.7 million from the MBTA coffers, 2.8% of the agency’s total budget.

Voicing support for both low-income fares and testing free bus service, Livable Streets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson urged Beacon Hill to make the proposals a priority.

A pilot program offering free service on a bus route between Mattapan Square and Ruggles Station in Roxbury, starting August 29, is previewed. Report for BNN NewsAired July 26, 2021

“If public transit is a public good, then we should treat it that way," [Stacy Thompson] says. "We should fund it like schools and libraries."

We hear from WBUR Reporter Bruce Gellerman about the growing movement to make public transit free in Massachusetts. We also take listener calls with Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of LiveableStreets Alliance, Kendrys Vasquez, Acting Mayor of Lawrence, and Brian Kane, Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board.

“There’s this misperception that ... more folks are working from home, [and so] congestion will somehow be better,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director for the LivableStreets Alliance, an advocacy group focused on transportation innovation and equity in Greater Boston. “The reality is that you only need a small percentage of people to choose not to take the T for us to get to pre-pandemic levels of congestion.”

“Giving primarily white and wealthy transit riders a free trip, while forcing primarily Black and low income riders to jump through hoops to access similar fare-free service, is exactly what structural racism looks like,” says Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance

Within a few months of the report, the MBTA purchased the buses, and now is working to acquire land for additional bus garage capacity, said Stacy Thompson, Livable Streets’ executive director. “So things are happening,” she said. “Not as quickly as we’d like, but they’re happening.”

The Freedom to Move Act is endorsed by the Sunrise Movement, 350 MASS, A Better Cambridge, Action 4 Equity, Allston Brighton Health Collaborative, Alternatives for Community and Environment, Bikes Not Bombs, Boston Cyclist Union, Community Labor United, Green Newton, GreenRoots, The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Inc, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, LivableStreets Alliance, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, MASSPIRG, Massachusetts Sierra Club, Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Riders Action Council, Transit Matters, WalkBoston.