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THE CONTEXT
KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INNOVATIONS 2002 - 2004
REMAINING CHALLENGES
THE CONTEXT
All roads converge on downtown Boston, which since 1959 has been the scene of recurring traffic delays on the under-designed, elevated Central Artery. The replacement project, the $15 billion Central Artery/Tunnel or "Big Dig," was almost complete as of March 2005, after more than 10 years of construction. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority operates the Artery's 160 lane-miles of tunnels and roads and the east-west Mass Pike or Instate 90. Other major highways serving Metropolitan Boston are operated by the Massachusetts Highway Department and include I-93, a north-south radial road, and both inner (Route 128/I-95) and outer (I-495) circumferential or ring roads. The roadway portion of Boston's transportation sector also includes local roads operated by Boston and other cities and towns and historic parkways owned by the Division of Conservation and Recreation (successor to the Metropolitan District Commission). Just as critical as this network of roads and highways is the network of public transit services operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), including an urban core of bus, trolleybus, subway, and trolley operations, and longer-distance commuter operations, including express bus, commuter rail, and ferry boat services. The City of Boston has both a seaport and a major airport within its municipal boundaries, both of which are owned and operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority, a state agency which also operates the Tobin bridge. Bicycle paths and lanes, sidewalks and other pedestrian facilities complete the extensive network of transportation facilities that allow residents, workers and visitors to travel to and around metropolitan Boston.
KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS
Car ownership grew rapidly with the economic growth of the 1990s, especially in the City of Boston. Between 1996 and 2002, the number of cars registered rose by 42% in the City of Boston and by 26% in Metro Boston. In 2003, however, as the economy slowed, registrations fell by 3% in Boston and 5% in the region. Another indicator of rising car ownership and use in the City of Boston is the number of residential parking permits, which rose 75% between 1990 and 2004. There are now more than 76,000 residential parking stickers issued, which in some neighborhoods means there are two to four times as many stickers as on-street parking spaces. The percentage of households in the City of Boston without a motor vehicle declined to 35% in 2000, although car ownership rates vary widely by neighborhood. Data collected in connection with the environmental review of the Urban Ring found, for example, that less than half of households within one-half mile of Ruggles Station and Dudley Square own cars. (see indicator 10.4.1)
While public transit use remains high, ridership has declined or remained flat in recent years. Massachusetts, and especially Greater Boston, continue to use public transportation at higher rates than most other metropolitan areas. The MBTA is the fifth largest transit system in the country, and Massachusetts commuters ranked fourth highest in the nation in their use of public transportation, trailing only New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. But a long-term trend of rising ridership overall masks the fact that ridership on the subway, bus and trolley lines is down from its 2001 peaks, and the 20 million passenger decline on these modes since 2001 offsets nearly the entire increase of 20 million new commuter rail passengers since 1991. (see indicator 10.2.2)
Fuel consumption is rising. More car owners in Massachusetts and across the country are purchasing Sport Utility Vehicles and pickup trucks, which do not meet the same Federal fuel economy standards as passenger cars. However, a variety of technologies have been deployed which can greatly improve fuel efficiency, with hybrid gas-electric vehicles the most prominent new vehicles. With gas prices having moved from $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon in the past two years, seemingly to stay, consumer demand may shift. In the meantime, the higher gasoline consumption is increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, making the global warming problem more difficult to solve.
The Big Dig continues to influence Massachusetts' spending on highways, roads and bridges. Massachusetts continues to use much of its Federal highway money to finish the $15 billion Central Artery/Tunnel project. In addition, in order to ensure the fair expenditures of state highway dollars geographically, the Commonwealth is required to spend $450 million annually on non-Artery highway projects around the state through fiscal year 2012. Thus, the Artery will continue to limit Massachusetts' ability to make transportation investment decisions for years to come. Deferred maintenance during the decade-long Artery project has created a backlog of hundreds of bridges to repair and other safety projects, yet state officials and the legislature refuse to consider new funding sources. The state gasoline tax has not been changed since 1991, even as its real value has been eroded by inflation, and political efforts have focused on reducing tolls rather than to supporting additional transportation investment.
The MBTA is in financial trouble. Since 2001, the MBTA has been required by law to live within its budget and depend on 20% of sales tax revenues, rather than annual appropriations, for its share of state funding. With sales tax receipts flat, lower ridership, and local community assessments declining, the MBTA has fewer resources. At the same time, costs for fringe benefits, debt service, and increased operations have increased. Following the first fare increase in nearly a decade in 2000, a second increase took effect in 2004, increasing fare revenues but also reducing transit use. The MBTA announced budget cuts early in 2005 and signaled that another fare increase may be necessary in 2006. (see indicator 10.6)
Further expansion of the transit system is only possible with state or federal funding. The MBTA currently spends 29% of its budget on debt service for bonds issued to pay for years of transit expansion projects. The MBTA is committed to completing the $470 million Greenbush Commuter rail line and Phase Three of the Silver Line, as well as addressing its backlog of deferred maintenance. With the MBTA planning to increase the share of its capital budget devoted to maintenance from 67% in 2003 to 83% by 2009, no capital funds will be available for proposed transit expansion projects such as the Arborway line, the Fairmount Line, extending the Green Line to Medford, extending the Blue Line to Lynn, the Urban Ring, and commuter rail to New Bedford and Fall River. In March 2005, the Commonwealth issued a draft long-range transportation plan acknowledging that future transit expansion would have to be funded by state bonds and federal New Starts dollars.
Ridership is increasing on Amtrak services to and from Boston. Boston's South Station is the eighth busiest in the Amtrak passenger rail system, with 987,000 boardings and alightings in 2004. Ridership is growing on both of Amtrak's major Northeast Corridor routes serving Boston, with Acela ridership up 8.7% in 2004 to 2.5 million riders and regional service up 9.5% to 6.4 million riders. Amtrak's Downeaster service, which runs along a 116 mile corridor between Boston's North Station and Portland, Maine - with intermediate stops in both New Hampshire and Maine - served 250,000 passengers in 2004.
Pedestrians and bicyclists are being included. WalkBoston, a pedestrian advocacy group, has convinced the Boston Transportation Department to change the way that "walk" signals are timed and created the "Safe Routes to Schools" program in Boston neighborhoods and other communities to encourage children to walk or bicycle to school. A new state law requiring consideration for bicyclists and pedestrians in road design was enacted as a result of frequent agitation for consideration of the needs of both bicyclists and pedestrians in road design projects. A comprehensive re-write is underway of the state's Highway Design Manual, a process begun in 2003 and to be completed in 2005. "Traffic calming" is also being used to slow traffic on residential streets. The City of Cambridge is the local pioneer, but other communities, including Dedham, Brookline, and Boston (at least in one neighborhood) have followed.
New cars and trucks are becoming dramatically cleaner. Massachusetts has adopted the more protective California "Low Emission Vehicle II" standards, which are being phased in from the 2004 to 2007 model years. An increasingly large fraction of vehicles certified under this program will have to meet the "Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle" (SULEV) designation, which have less than a tenth of the tailpipe emissions of a 2003 vehicle. Most hybrid gas-electric vehicles meet the SULEV standards. Some of the SULEV vehicles already on the market have additional controls to reduce air pollution caused by the evaporation of gasoline; these vehicles are designated as "Partial Zero Emission Vehicles" or PZEVs.
Private shuttle buses are becoming an increasingly important element of Boston's transportation network. Employers and institutions in Longwood Medical Area, South Boston waterfront, downtown and other areas of the city are providing a parallel "private transit" system to serve passengers not adequately served by the MBTA. Hospitals, for example, can run shuttle services to meet the needs of shift employees; and hotels will be running more shuttles to serve the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Some individual shuttle routes are now serving more passengers than many MBTA routes, with nearly 750,000 annual riders using the M2 shuttle run by MASCO (the Medical Academic Scientific Community Organization).
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INNOVATIONS 2002 - 2004
The MBTA system continued to improve and expand. Service started on the MBTA's Silver Line branch serving the South Boston Waterfront in December 2004. New buses that can switch between electric and diesel modes will be delivered in the near future, allowing more surface routes including direct service to all Logan Airport terminals. The MBTA also opened a completely new Airport subway station on the Blue Line in 2004. The high-tech station includes flight information, direct transfer access, and, for the first time, both escalators and elevators. Several other Blue Line stations have been remodeled, and more are in progress, as are Red Line station renovations. Another major change occurred on July 1, 2003, when the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad took over operations of the MBTA's commuter rail system, which had previously been run by Amtrak.
The MBTA is running a cleaner and better bus fleet. The MBTA bus fleet has become almost completely low-emission, and the average vehicle age has dropped dramatically, a big improvement compared to just a few years ago. For the first time, its fleet includes 60-foot articulated buses that can accommodate more than 100 passengers. The MBTA also took delivery of its first new electric trolley buses in almost 30 years, to be used on bus routes serving the Harvard Square bus tunnel. In addition, the MBTA's diesel locomotives will soon be retrofitted with emissions controls, using funds from a settlement negotiated by the Environmental Protection Agency. (see indicator 10.3.2)
Boston is becoming the first city in the United States to clean up its entire fleet of school buses. In January of 2004, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced the second of two separate settlements that will result in funding to retrofit the entire fleet of 600 school buses in the City of Boston. When completed, in September of 2005, Boston will become the first major American city to retrofit its entire diesel school bus fleet. Similarly, with funds from the EPA's Clean School Bus USA program, the city of Medford is retrofitting 54 school buses with diesel particulate matter filters and will fuel the entire fleet of 65 school buses with ultra low sulfur diesel fuel.
State transportation agencies were restructured. While rejecting Governor Romney's proposal to merge the Turnpike Authority with the Highway Department, the state legislature did create a new Executive Office of Transportation and ensure better coordination of agencies and independent authorities by making the Secretary of Transportation a member of the boards of authorities, such as the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Port Authority. The law will also promote administrative savings by eliminating duplicative functions among the separate agencies and authorities.
Private shuttle services continued to grow and began using clean buses. MASCO (Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization, Inc.,), which offers multiple shuttle routes to and through the Longwood Medical Area, collaborated with its service provider, Paul Revere Transportation, to voluntarily upgrade its fleet of buses with state-of-the-art pollution controls, making it one of the first private transportation organizations in the nation to do so. MASCO's 17 upgraded shuttle buses were retrofitted with particulate matter filters and are being fueled with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, which in combination reduces emissions of particulate matter by 90 percent. Ridership on MASCO and other private shuttles around Boston have continued to grow, and these services have become a critical part of the city's transit system.
The City of Boston changed the way its walk/don't walk lights are timed to be more pedestrian-friendly. In September of 2004, the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) issued a new policy on the timing of traffic lights that stated that BTD "encourages the use of concurrent pedestrian phases where appropriate, to ensure more pedestrians cross with the WALK phase and to reduce delays to pedestrians and vehicles." WalkBoston, the pedestrian organization, has been encouraging this policy change in order to bring Boston's walk lights into conformity with engineering practice around the country-and with actual behavior.
Boston launched a national car sharing company called Zipcar. Zipcar members have easy access to a variety of vehicles on short notice and so tend not to own or buy a car, thus reducing parking demand and short driving trips. Zipcar expanded its fleet to 300 vehicles in 2004, up 15% over 2003. Zipcar also began marketing its services to businesses in 2004.
A new law will make it easier to turn disused rail lines into bicycle paths. In August 2004, the legislature passed a law that will facilitate the development of bicycle paths on disused rail lines, formerly stymied by legal constraints. The new law shifts liability from the state to municipalities and caps that liability at $5,000. A model contract with the MBTA permits path development while providing for the potential return to public transit use.
New bicycle routes were opened. The Neponset River Greenway, including a bicycle path on the border between Boston and Milton, officially opened in 2003, after many years of planning and construction. The Amelia Earhardt Dam across the Mystic River will be opened for passage by bicyclists and pedestrians under a settlement agreement reached by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Metropolitan District Commission was merged into the new Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The DCR completed two important pedestrian projects from the Charles River Basin Master Plan: widening the park and pathway along the Charles River, between Massachusetts Avenue and the Longfellow Bridge, and placing a traffic signal at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Memorial Drive. Both of these projects will greatly increase the safety and convenience of path users.
The Transportation Security Roundtable was created. The Transportation Security Roundtable is a collaboration among the transportation agencies launched in April 2003. The group has helped to coordinate security enhancements at the state's Regional Transit Authorities, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Massport, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The last elevated train line in the City of Boston disappeared when the elevated rail line on Causeway Street came down in 2004. Both the Orange and Green lines will soon be connected directly to North Station.
Visit the Hub of Innovation's Transportation Section.
REMAINING CHALLENGES
Completing, repairing and restoring public confidence in the Big Dig. A leak in the Central Artery tunnel occurred in September of 2004, setting off a series of investigations that discovered a history of leaks. Documents reporting hundreds of small leaks going back several years came to light. Investigations have been started by the Massachusetts Attorney General, the Turnpike Authority, and the US Department of Transportation's Inspector General. By one estimate, leak patching could take a decade and cost millions, while failing to fix the leaks could compromise the safety of the tunnels. In August 2004, before the project was fully completed, a UMass Boston survey found that only 39% of respondents said the project made it easier to get around, and 18% said getting around after the Big Dig was harder. Also, 40% of those polled said the project was not worth the cost, and another 14% said it was too soon to tell.
Putting the MBTA on a sound financial footing with further increases in fares. Ridership is down on the MBTA, in part due to fare increases and in part due to a loss of jobs, especially in Boston's downtown. Lower revenues and higher operating costs have forced the T to take cost-cutting measures, including some service cuts, such as the proposed elimination of the Night Owl service. If fares are to be increased in 2006 to make up the shortfall, ridership may decline further. A new General Manager will need to be hired to tackle these challenges, as Mike Mulhern has announced his retirement effective in June 2005.
Ensuring completion of the Artery "transit commitments." As a condition of receiving regulatory approval for the Big Dig, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts promised to make a series of transit investments. As of 2005, three of these had not been completed: restoration of service on the Arborway Line, extension of the Green Line to Medford, and extending the Blue Line to create a Red Line/Blue Line connection at the Charles/Massachusetts General Hospital Station. The state transportation and environmental agencies are re-examining whether these projects should be completed; Governor Romney's draft transportation plan indicates that the Commonwealth will pay for either these three projects or some equivalent substitute projects. Transit advocates remain concerned that the Commonwealth will not fulfill its commitments, and the Conservation Law Foundation, the Arborway Committee and the cities of Somerville and Medford have all filed notices of their intent to bring lawsuits.
Finding the capital dollars needed to continue expanding the MBTA transit system. The Artery transit commitments are not the only system expansion projects that could benefit MBTA riders and communities and spur the kind of smart growth and transit-oriented development that Massachusetts needs and wants. Other projects that have been proposed include converting what is now the Fairmount Line commuter rail service into a rapid transit service, extending the Blue Line to Lynn and building a circumferential transit line called the Urban Ring that would connect residents and businesses in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, and Somerville. The MBTA can ill afford to take on additional debt and further increase the 39% of its budget already spent on interest payments. A combination of federal, state, local and private funds will be needed if the MBTA system is to continue expanding and improving.
Improving transit service, especially on local buses. The MBTA faces continued problems in its attempt to improve urban bus service. Community groups complain that its Silver Line bus does not meet the quality of light rail. The bus-only lane on Washington Street is frequently blocked by parked cars and is not always cleared of snow. Bus routes still have no real-time operating controls to maintain service quality and such monitoring will be possible only when the radio system upgrade is completed. Further, the MBTA has not yet committed to eliminating charges for transferring from buses to the subway system when automatic fare collection is deployed over the next two years.
Providing more transportation choices in Metropolitan Boston's cities and suburbs. For too many people and too many trips, the only realistic choice is driving and often driving alone. Before more people can be expected to choose walking, biking or transit, there need to be more transportation options. Communities need to adopt transit-oriented development and smart growth approaches to ensure that new development includes pedestrian facilities, bicycle facilities, and access to transit. And existing communities need to be made walkable and bicycle-friendly as well. (see indicator 10.3.1)
Addressing high and rising auto insurance premiums. Automobile insurance premiums are substantially higher in Massachusetts than any other state. And the rate of claims per vehicle is as much as twice the national average and has been increasing in Massachusetts while declining nationally. Major insurance fraud rings have been uncovered in parts of the state. Governor Romney is trying to reform the system to provide discounts for good drivers. Premiums are punishingly high in neighborhoods that have a high proportion of black and Latino residents - they can often be a greater annual cost than the vehicle itself. Reducing these high urban rates will require reducing the value of claims made, which means either improving road and driver safety or reducing the rate of fraudulent claims, or both.
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