US cities need practical, creative solutions to improve its faltering public transit systems. In the Greater Boston area in particular, where ITDP US has been working to advance Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and sustainable transport with agencies like the MBTA, workforce challenges are especially evident and have far-reaching implications. There exist real-world models in  cities…

ITDP and LivableStreets Alliance’s Keeping Pace report shows that the MBTA bus system in Greater Boston has not kept up with surging service demand and offers key recommendations to get it back on track by 2030.

About ITDP’s US Program partnered with LivableStreets Alliance on this report on Greater Boston’s bus system that outlines an actionable agenda for regional decision-makers at the state, agency, and local levels to enact within the next few years. While the system’s challenges may be daunting, Greater Boston’s bus network is one of the most flexible…

Everett, Massachusetts, is a city directly bordering Boston. It has an ethnically diverse population of 40,000 people––one-third of whom were born outside of the United States. The population has a large age range––with almost equal amounts of people of each age, meaning seniors and families predominate. The per capita income for the city is just…

The Greater Boston region has received much attention for its worst-in-the-nation rush hour congestion problem, where in 2018 commuters lost an average of 164 hours in rush-hour traffic. Several Boston area municipalities are looking for innovative solutions that rethink urban streets to manage the region’s traffic. Bus improvements have become a hot topic and are…

The Boston area is preparing for exciting new improvements to its bus service in 2018, so much that #YearoftheBus has become popular on social media and local television has taken an interest in covering the progress. In addition to the three local bus pilots that ITDP is supporting, the local transit authority (the MBTA) and…

On December 5, 2017, ITDP joined partners from the BostonBRT initiative in announcing the recipients of three $100,000 grants provided by the Barr Foundation to demonstrate BRT’s potential in metro Boston. Working together with the MBTA (regional transit authority) and across municipal boundaries, the communities of Arlington, Everett, and Cambridge in partnership with Watertown will…

Allowing passengers to board a bus at any door (front, back, middle) and pre-pay are basic elements of BRT. These elements are also the foundation of good bus service generally as seen in best practice cities around the world. Yet only a handful of U.S. cities have managed to integrate all-door boarding and pre-paying in…

The Greater Boston BRT Study Group, made up of transportation experts, planners, and community leaders, released a comprehensive report detailing the possibility of implementing high-standard Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the Greater Boston region and the benefits it would bring to residents, commuters, and the economy. The report, titled Better Rapid Transit for Greater Boston:…

Subscribe

Sign up for updates on our projects, events and publications.

SIGN UP