Students are experiencing unreliable live tracking and other complications on the Terrier Transit app, which is proving challenging given Boston’s freezing January temperatures.
If other suburbs implemented the policies and attitudes of New Brunswick, many more North Americans could choose to live in a smaller city without the worry of a car payment or the fear of a car collision.
Ultimately, a city that prioritizes cars over people on mechanical wheels or on foot doesn’t allow pedestrians to enjoy the full extent of their city. Perhaps that’s a good thing in a time of a pandemic, but it just makes the morning commute all the more depressing.
Boston drivers lost an average of 48 hours to traffic in 2020 — down from 101 hours in 2019 — according to an INRIX report. The city’s congestion now ranks fourth in the United States, behind New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
The MBTA’s Forging Ahead initiative produced reduced frequency on the subway, bus and Commuter Rail as early as spring 2021. Service would end after midnight for the subway and bus and after 9 p.m. for the Commuter Rail. Ferry service would be fully suspended.
The City of Boston provides public transportation for about 1.18 million commuters each weekday. But the coronavirus pandemic has kept many people at home, meaning fewer cars on the road and, consequently, less air pollution.
While in progress, the Allston project will hurt congestion. When completed, congestion will not be improved. In reconfiguring the roads, officials are simply shifting things around. Officials ought to focus on the crippled public transportation system, which will most definitely help more people get where they need to go before prioritizing Harvard’s request for even more space to gentrify.
The Spotlight team joined a panel of transportation advocates and city officials Tuesday to talk about why the city’s residents and commuters are forced into hours of congestion every day.
