Celebrating 10 Years Of Advocacy: MBTA Board Endorses TransitMatters' Vision For Regional Rail

TransitMatters is celebrating 10 years of advocacy! To celebrate, we've been highlighting landmark moments in our history so far. Next up: Our advocacy and evidence-based research that pushed the MBTA to endorse TransitMatters’ vision for Regional Rail.

Members of TransitMatters introduce their plan to electrify the Commuter Rail system and add more frequency to lines (WBUR).

In 2018, the MBTA initiated their Rail Vision project to evaluate the future of the Commuter Rail. The Rail Vision team considered several possible alternatives, from optimizing the current system to a full transformation with 15-minute frequency. In February of the same year, we released Regional Rail for Metropolitan Boston during a live press event to stakeholders, policy makers, and the public. The report received rave reviews from policy makers, community leaders, and most importantly, riders, across the region.

In the spring of 2018, several municipalities openly supported a Regional Rail model, including the City of Newton, which advocated for a Regional Rail approach to rebuilding their three Commuter Rail stations. The Massachusetts Senate also included electrifying the Providence/Stoughton and Fairmount Lines in the state budget. Unfortunately, they ended up stripping it from the budget.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza at TransitMatters’ Regional Rail Whistle Stop Tour in 2019.

For the rest of the year, TransitMatters continued to influence dialog around modernizing the Commuter Rail as we worked on our follow up report. We visited communities across the region, presenting our Regional Rail vision, hosting happy hours, and speaking to any organization that wanted to know more about Regional Rail. 

In September 2019, we released Regional Rail Proof of Concept! This report focused on how modest changes in both operations and track layout at South Station can have significant benefits to train capacity in the short-term. After releasing Proof of Concept, we worked with community, business, and elected leaders to write op-eds. We also organized a campaign to send hundreds of letters to the MBTA’s Rail Vision team in support of the boldest option for Regional Rail.

In November 2019, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB)  endorsed Commuter Rail electrification to provide all-day, rapid-transit-style Regional Rail service throughout Greater Boston. Their resolutions largely followed the framework and phased approach that we laid out in our reports.

TransitMatters has not let up on our Regional Rail advocacy following the FMCB's endorsement. In 2020, we began releasing our line-by-line analyses, as well as our Regional Rail Phase I plan, and Turning Vision into Reality.

Due to our advocacy, Regional Rail has widespread name recognition! No one talked about Regional Rail or used the phrase in Massachusetts until we did. $61 million new money for Regional Rail has also been included in the in FY2024-2028 CIP,  we are a key partner in advocacy coalitions along Phase I corridors, and our vision has been cited in significant articles.

Media Statement: Capital Needs Assessment Inventory

BOSTON, November 16, 2023 —  We're pleased that the Healey-Driscoll administration and MBTA leadership have released the Capital Needs Assessment Inventory. This long-awaited document confirms what many have suspected, that the previous administration’s reports dramatically underestimated the true extent of the State of Good Repair backlog. We applaud the MBTA staff who have put an incredible amount of hard work into this report. While $24.5 billion will be a shocking number for many, this is only the cost of bringing the system back to a baseline state of good repair and does not include many vital projects needed to avoid overcrowding, address traffic congestion, or support further housing growth.

Riders, especially low-income riders and riders with disabilities, have borne the brunt of decades of austerity and underinvestment. Our nation-leading traffic congestion is largely a product of a system that has not only failed to keep up with a state of good repair but has also failed to make the needed maintenance, modernization, and expansion investments. If we are to meet the pressing challenges facing the region, we must bring the system into not just a state of good repair, but make it into a future-proof, climate-resilient, and world-class system.

The MBTA leadership and Healey-Driscoll Administration must work with federal, state, and local elected officials, advocates, and stakeholders to identify the long-term, sustainable funding sources to address the backlog in a manner that grows ridership and does not lose sight of the essential modernization, resiliency, and expansion needs. TransitMatters stands ready to support the Healey-Driscoll administration in breaking with a culture of austerity and building the safe, modern, equitable, accessible MBTA the region needs.

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

###

Banner Photo Credit: Brooke Winter

Media Statement: 2024 Diversion Schedule

BOSTON, November 9, 2023 —  TransitMatters applauds the MBTA and General Manager Eng for releasing a long-term diversion schedule for 2024. For too long, the T has communicated diversions to the public on an ad-hoc basis with limited warning. Planning this work far in advance allows riders to make adjustments for when their trips are impacted. It also gives us at TransitMatters better confidence that the T is coordinating repairs and capital improvements to minimize disruption for riders.

While the T disrupts rail service, the MBTA needs to ensure replacement service is as seamless as possible. Communications about when and how service will be replaced or supplemented should happen early and often. The T should work with municipalities to ensure replacement bus service is fast and frequent and mitigate potential traffic issues along the route. Along parallel corridors, the T should increase Commuter Rail service and allow riders to board by showing their CharlieCard, explore free fares, and increase service on parallel and diversionary high-frequency bus routes.

The MBTA has reduced service on rapid transit for a year and a half. The Red Line is still only running 50% of pre-COVID service. Slow zones remain at or near record levels for any time before 2023. While these diversions are necessary to clear the existing backlog of speed restrictions, track defects occur as a part of regular wear and tear. Going forward, the MBTA should ensure it has the capacity to handle new track defects with minimal disruption to regular service.

If we want ridership to return to the pre-COVID levels, the T must improve speed restrictions and service levels as quickly as possible and run regular service as often as possible. Riders can learn to rely on the MBTA again, and we look forward to them doing so. We hope that this new plan builds on the success of the recent Red Line diversion and gives riders precious hours of their lives back.

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

###

Banner Photo Credit: Brooke Winter