SUMMARY
Known as America’s “walking city,” Boston is also the hub of a dense network of roads, rail, air and water transport that connects Greater Boston nd New England to the wider world. It is also home to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), the nation’s oldest and most extensive, accessible and widely used public rail transit system. In Boston, while 80% of jobs, 56% of homes and 51% of schools are located within 1/4 mile of an MBTA station, with the rest of the city served by bus transit some neighborhoods are underserved. The MBTA also has among the nation’s highest operating costs and faces a severe long-term funding shortfall, even as ridership increases. Job-rich Boston is the destination of more than 300,000 commuters daily, of whom about half of whom drive to work. Vehicle ownership and miles traveled are increasing, but residents also see transportation as a quality of life issue and link to energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, public safety, healthy lifestyles and regional equity. Incr3easingly, Greater Bostonians seek access to multiple modes of transportation—from walking and bicycling to vehicle-sharing and public transit. Savings associated with the use of public transportation are greater in Metro Boston than any other US metro. On average, Boston commuters save more than $12,000 annually by using public transportation compared to driving.
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WHAT IS THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR?
Greater Boston’s extensive transportation network allows most residents, workers and visitors to travel by car, bus, rapid transit, bicycle or on foot. The sector is largely administered by state transportation agencies--the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works, the Massachusetts
Highway Department, the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, the Registry of Motor Vehicles—which were merged into the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) through
a landmark reform bill in 2009. MassDOT also assumed oversight of the Tobin Bridge, regional transit authorities and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), which manages 11 commuter rail lines with 125 stations and 5 rapid transit lines with 150 stations and provides rapid transit and commuter rail service to 175 cities and towns alongside an extensive network of local and express busses and a small but important coastal ferry system. The regional transit system links to the federal Amtrak rail system at North and South Stations in Boston, which also contains a deepwater seaport and Logan International Airport owned and operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority (MassPort). The sector includes a range of research, planning and advocacy organizations, from the federal Volpe Center to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Walk Boston and the Union of T Riders to business groups such as A Better City (ABC), boaters’ and bicyclists’ groups, academic experts at MIT and other area universities, Boston’s Transportation Department and small town planning departments. All work to make the region’s transportation system safer, more seamless and more efficient.
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The City of Boston is increasingly linking transportation planning to strategies that address climate change, environmental health and healthy lifestyles, particularly by making the city more walkable and bikable.
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In June 2009, “An Act Modernizing the Transportation Systems of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” integrated oversight and management of previously disconnected, autonomous agencies with the creation of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).
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Massachusetts’ transportation infrastructure faces a potentially crippling backlog of deferred maintenance as well mounting debt that threatens not just the reliability of the system but its fiscal health and that of the Commonwealth.
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