The survey indicated residents remain in a fiscally conservative mood, but they are open to studying other ways to pay for transportation upgrades and improvements, such as congestion pricing.
Speaking to the Charles River Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, the transportation secretary made it clear that the Healey administration isn’t pursuing more tolls. Still, she says, the issue of needing more revenue isn’t going away.
The program would set a limit on vehicle emissions, and hold auctions for fuel suppliers that transport gasoline into Massachusetts and other states to purchase allowances for every ton of carbon dioxide that the fuel they are carrying would emit when burned.
With gas prices low but the economy strained, a significant public majority still supports state action to raise new revenue for transportation investments and to join a multi-state roadway fuel cap-and-trade program, according to recent poll results.
Endorsing the idea of a “phased in” reopening of the state’s economy, Senate President Karen Spilka told business leaders on Tuesday that the COVID-19 pandemic could present opportunities to begin repairing transportation infrastructure and to elevate as a priority early education and child care.
As the Senate prepares its own proposal to boost transportation spending, we must reflect on the magnitude of our looming transportation challenge and imagine the legislation that could emerge this year.
A day after voting to raise taxes and fees by as much as $600 million per year, the Massachusetts House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a roughly $18 billion bill authorizing spending on transportation projects and infrastructure over 10 years.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a major tax bill Wednesday night that Democratic leaders say will generate more than half a billion dollars for transportation infrastructure.
In over 80 amendments, rank-and-file Democrats called for expanding the gasoline and diesel tax increases beyond the 5-cent hike proposed by leaders, expanding road tolls to the state’s borders and funding free public transportation.
Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday said he was “disappointed” with many of the core elements of Speaker Robert DeLeo’s transportation funding tax package, raising the stakes for next week’s debate.
After years of vital transit upgrades being stonewalled by the state House of Representatives, the transportation finance bill unveiled last week is a welcome development. But it doesn’t go far enough, and it’s up to the Senate to fix that.
While most advocates for new transportation revenues to improve the condition of roads and bridges and deliver more reliable, affordable public transit were pleased to see progress, several said they had hoped the bill would have gone further.
A 5-cent increase in the gas tax and higher corporate taxes will be the centerpiece of a major revenue bill that House Democratic leaders will ask legislators to vote on next week as part of a package that could raise over $600 million in new funding for transportation.
As the House zeroes in on a transportation financing proposal, one of House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s senior deputies said Tuesday that the bill could be a “generational gamechanger” for transportation across the state.
The House’s long-awaited transportation revenue legislation will emerge “sooner rather than later,” Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday,
The Senate “will be doing a housing bill, a comprehensive housing bill,” Senate President Karen Spilka said.
Freeing the T should not just be an idea about bus fares; it should also be about eliminating unnecessary restrictions related to procurement methods, management and oversight of capital infrastructure projects.
Key legislators OK’d one of Gov. Charlie Baker’s marquee transit investment bills, while warning that it was merely a down payment on what’s needed to fix Massachusetts’ transportation system.
A day after blaming ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft for clogging roads and operating with “little oversight,” Gov. Charlie Baker is proposing to hike the per-ride fees on such services by 80 cents and to use much of the new funding to help the MBTA.
A new climate commitment Gov. Charlie Baker made in his State of the Commonwealth address Tuesday night earned a warm reception from Democratic legislative leaders on Tuesday night, with a new bill expected to be revealed tomorrow.
