The Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) unanimously voted Dec. 12 for an entirely new fleet of Red Line cars, rather than refurbishing existing cars.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), as part of a coalition of organizations, launched a new information campaign to enhance passenger safety and encourage the public to report incidents of sexual harassment. The campaign’s message is that sexual harrassment will not be tolerated on the T or anywhere else.
During this year’s fare adjustment process, a key concern raised by MBTA customers was that not all fares are being collected. Of particular concern was fare collection on the surface Green Line, where all doors are opened to facilitate quicker boarding during peak hours.
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a two-year, $7.7 million contract to Brink’s Incorporated to perform cash collection operations that had previously been handled internally by the MBTA.
The MBTA connects some of the country’s busiest universities with the downtown business community and the heart of the state’s thriving technology sector, and now it wants to establish a process for those groups to suggest ways to improve the transportation system.
Under an expansion of the Student Pass program approved by the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, as this new school year begins, students with a Student CharlieCard will pay half-price per trip on all modes of transit and may obtain a monthly bus and subway pass for $30, even if their schools do not purchase the Student Pass for them.
VHB has been named the local lead signal design consultant to work as part of the Ansaldo STS team on a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority $338 million project to equip the Boston commuter rail network with Positive Train Control (PTC). Ansaldo STS is a Hitachi Group company.
First, in 2014, a $567 million system-wide car order for Boston’s MBTA. Then, this year, the largest single purchase of rapid transit cars in Chicago history, valued at $1.31 billion. Together, the contracts built momentum for China’s CRRC to more than double orders from outside China in the first half of this year, according to a financial release filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Aug. 23, 2016.
As Massachusetts officials celebrated the “topping off” ceremony of a $95 million new railcar manufacturing plant in Springfield, Mass., last week, the factory’s owner—China’s CCRC—explained hiring plans: production workers will be hired in October, and sent to China for advance training by February.
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a plan on August 1 allowing for the installation of solar energy generating equipment at 37 T-owned parking facilities.