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Twenty-four chambers of commerce and industry lobby groups from around Massachusetts are joining forces to heed House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s call for a unified voice from the business community on transportation matters.
The Massachusetts Business Coalition on Transportation (MBCT) will “develop and promote a collaborative statewide business agenda for transportation to increase ridership on public transportation, decrease road congestion and improve bridge and road conditions,” the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.
The statement called transportation issues “an urgent policy priority” necessary to the health of the state’s businesses and said businesses were dissatisfied with how quickly improvements were being made to the MBTA and the state’s roads.
“Transportation, and particularly public transportation, is a critical component to Greater Boston’s, and indeed the state’s, talent and workforce strategy, housing crisis strategy, economic opportunity efforts, climate resiliency, and our commitment to improving the overall quality of life for the people who live and work in Massachusetts,” GBCC President and CEO James Rooney said in a statement. “It’s time for a united voice from the business community that can be a powerful driver of progress.”
Rooney will chair the new group along with Timothy P. Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce; Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce; and Richard Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council.
While the MBCT still has to develop a position on various transit issues, the GBCC statement promised it would build off of recommendations made by Gov. Charlie Baker’s Commission on the Future of Transportation and coordinate any call for new revenues with a working group established by Senate President Karen Spilka’s to examine the state’s revenue sources. The statement also endorsed improvements to Cape Cod’s roads and bridges as well as broadband internet investments in rural areas.
The coalition’s members are:
- 1Berkshire
- 495/MetroWest Partnership
- A Better City
- American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts
- Associated Industries of Massachusetts
- Boston Municipal Research Bureau
- Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce
- Construction Industries of Massachusetts
- Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
- Massachusetts Business Roundtable
- Massachusetts Competitive Partnership
- Massachusetts High Technology Council
- Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
- NAIOP Massachusetts – The Commercial Real Estate Development Association
- New England Business Association
- Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce
- North Shore Chamber of Commerce
- Retailers Association of Massachusetts
- South Shore Chamber of Commerce
- Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce
- The New England Council
- Trucking Association of Massachusetts
- Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council
- Worcester Chamber of Commerce
