The House & Senate committees on climate change could hardly have more urgent work to tackle. But neither has had a single bill referred to it this session.

The panels come with leadership stipends of tens of thousands of $.🤯 Emma Platoff Laura Crimaldi bostonglobe.com/2024/05/31/met…

For The New York Times, I wrote about a significant shift happening at the Colorado Department of Transportation: Instead of widening (some) highways, the agency is building rapid transit 🧵
nytimes.com/2024/05/31/hea…

Mark Montigny earns an extra $61,000 per year to lead two #mapoli committees. But they haven't held a hearing or considered a bill.

He's just one lawmaker collecting tens of thousands for a legislative leadership role that involves little legislating:
bostonglobe.com/2024/05/31/met…

Shipowners around the world are abandoning cargo ships and neglecting to pay the sailors on board. Last year, in Saudi Arabia, one man spent his ninth year waiting to be paid. apnews.com/article/abando…

NYC Transit President Rich Davey has been picked to be the next CEO of Massport. He's a familiar face to many people in Boston. bostonglobe.com/2024/05/29/bus… via The Boston Globe

I'll be talking all things congestion pricing with moderator Christian MilNeil (Streetsblog MASS ), Reggie Ramos (@T4MASS), and NYC-based journalist + professor John Surico at the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library on Monday.

Join us: eventbrite.com/e/can-you-put-…

T says you'll be able to tap your credit card or phone to board buses and subways starting *this summer*.

The announcement marks the long-awaited roll out of the T’s new fare system that is years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget.
bostonglobe.com/2024/05/23/met…

More than 4 years since the T first slashed service in response to the pandemic, the agency still hasn’t restored full service on its subway and bus systems, repelling potential riders and frustrating those who have no other choice but to wait it out.

bostonglobe.com/2024/05/22/met…

For months, the MBTA has warned it needs ~$600M more than it has to cover operating expenses for FY25 starting July 1.

Gov Healey's and the Legislature's proposals come up far short.

Healey's: $172M
House's: $257M
Senate's: $157.5M

bostonglobe.com/2024/05/12/met…

If you’re $600M in the hole and have a persistent problem making budget, how do you fix your money problems?

If you’re Governor Maura Healey’s new transportation task force, you hire a team of consultants who charge as much as $610 *an hour*. bostonglobe.com/2024/05/10/met…

After months of preaching fiscal restraint, the MA House’s most powerful Dems quietly slipped millions into sweeping budget amendments.

And it all happened in secret.

Matt Stout + I pulled these amendments apart, thread by thread. This is what we found:bostonglobe.com/2024/05/09/met…

En junio Nueva York empezará a cobrar 15 dólares por entrar en auto al Lower Manhattan. Los fondos recaudados se destinarán a mejorar el transporte público.

Algo que tenemos en común con Boston: lo lejos que estamos de implementar algo así

✍️ Taylor Dolven bostonglobe.com/2024/05/07/met…

The WRTA advisory board voted unanimously today to make public transit fare-free for a 5th year: bostonglobe.com/2024/04/18/met…

Strange but true #MBTA story: in 1955 my grandfather fell onto the tracks at Park Street station and touched the third rail. But thanks to his wooden leg, he wasn't electrocuted. The crazy story of his “lucky leg” appeared in newspapers across the country.

happy marathon day everyone!

as you’re cheering on this year’s runners, you should read this story about 26.TRUE. this marathon brings runners through the city’s different, diverse neighborhoods.

w/ Laura Crimaldi for The Boston Globe + Report for America:

bostonglobe.com/2024/04/14/spo…

Wrote about D.C.’s remarkable post-Covid transit recovery, and what other cities can learn from its experiment. (The short version is: Don’t fear deficits! Transit is a public service, and the better it is, the more people will use it.) vox.com/cities-and-urb…

Neither Governor Healey’s budget proposal nor the MA House’s budget proposal will close the ~$628M budget gap the MBTA faces come July.

GM Phil Eng has said previously the agency will have to do some “tightening of the belt.”

bostonglobe.com/2024/04/09/met…

Pre-pandemic, WRTA ridership was declining and fare revenue covered just ~9% of expenses.

Since nixing fares in 2020, WRTA ridership has soared. Now one of the largest, longest-running fare-free systems in the country is weighing a 5th year w/o fares.
bostonglobe.com/2024/04/10/met…

The T board got a rare standing ovation today when it voted to include 'premium' trips on The Ride (currently $5.60) in its new program to provide half-priced tickets for people with low incomes.

'Today, we made history!' -Kathy Paul Mass Senior Action bostonglobe.com/2024/03/28/met…

The T says it needs to pay CRRC another $148M to get all the new Red & Orange Line cars by end of 2027.

The T was supposed to have all 404 new cars it purchased for about $871 million by September. To date, the T has only received 130 cars from CRRC.
bostonglobe.com/2024/03/28/met…