The MBTA is getting close to a fully staffed slate of subway dispatchers six months after federal investigators warned that shortages posed safety risks, though it’s still not clear when the transit agency will reverse service cuts triggered by workforce issues.
Beleaguered commuters in the Greater Boston area were dealt another setback Wednesday when transit officials announced that service cuts on three of the four major subway lines in the city that were set to end this summer will instead extend into the fall.
New MBTA employees could receive hiring bonuses under a collective bargaining agreement officials ratified Thursday, one of several steps the transit agency’s leaders are taking to attract workers amid a staffing shortage set to impact bus service.
The Transportation Committee’s House chair on Monday floated the idea of turning to retirees to help address a bus driver shortage at the MBTA, and Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler said the state is “looking at everything” in seeking solutions.
Warning that scaling back service would harm public health and mobility options, the head of an influential business group called Wednesday for the MBTA to consider bringing in private buses to cope with a driver shortage.
The Great Resignation has hit Boston’s public transit system, with serious consequences for low-income riders.
The MBTA plans to resume weekday service to Boston on its Charlestown and Hingham ferries starting in late May, the latest step toward reversing widely-opposed COVID-19 service cuts.
After resisting calls to change course for months, the MBTA embarked on a scramble Monday to reverse service cuts across all modes in the coming months using hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency federal aid.
The T now plans to include enough funding in its next annual budget to run buses and trains on the same full schedule that was in place before the pandemic.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is considering restoring some recent service reductions that have met with criticism from riders and members of the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation.
If they’re not careful, Gov. Charlie Baker and his hand-picked MBTA general manager could undermine the biggest effort to grow housing production this state has seen in decades.
The state’s congressional delegation is “furious” about service reductions at the MBTA and plans to have “hard conversations” with transit officials and Gov. Charlie Baker about reversing them.
MBTA staff are developing a plan to restore a small amount of bus and train service in the summer and fall, laying groundwork to start unwinding COVID-era cuts that in some cases have yet to take effect.
With the MBTA budget solidly in the black thanks largely to federal aid, transit activists and community groups are growing increasingly frustrated with the service cuts, saying they are now clearly unnecessary.
As top Washington negotiators reach for a long-delayed agreement on COVID-19 relief, rank-and-file Democrats appear increasingly resigned to having to drop, for now, a scaled-back demand for fiscal relief for states and local governments whose budgets have been thrown out of balance by the pandemic.
Significant MBTA service cuts will hit early next year after the agency’s oversight board voted 3-2 in favor of a reduced package of cuts Monday afternoon, capping off months of planning and public outcry.
The package of service cuts that the MBTA’s board plans to vote on next week will not be as steep as the original proposal, officials said Monday, after a wave of public feedback aimed particularly at the most drastic changes.
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is urging the MBTA’s board to delay its decision on significant proposed cuts to its commuter rail, bus, subway and ferry operations.
News of successful COVID-19 vaccines created a “light at the end of the tunnel” of pain the MBTA’s finances are currently in. But instead of helping us get there, Gov. Charlie Baker and MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack are packing dynamite around the tunnel walls.
“Cliff? What cliff?” the bus driver asked without evident concern.
