Cambridge Day has a short sit-down coming soon with Phillip Eng, general manager and chief executive of the MBTA, and we’d like to hear from the residents of Cambridge and Somerville what questions you’d like Eng and our transit agency to answer.
The meeting is Oct. 15, so any suggestions sent within the next week or so will be considered. Just comment below or send email to editor@cambridgeday.com using the subject line “MBTA questions.”
Eng came on in troubled times, starting work April 10, 2023, amid safety concerns and slowdowns that were frustrating and failing people in cities where neighborhoods rise and projects are often built specifically on the promise of mass transit. (A Cambridge Day reporter had a ride-along that first day on the job.) The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has made progress under Eng, but if there are concerns that seem unaddressed, this could be the chance to get an answer.
On the other hand, it wasn’t fast or easy to get this conversation – Cambridge Day made the request on July 28, 2023 to interview Eng, meaning that by the time we sit down it will have been 445 days between request and fulfillment. And we have been promised as little as 15 minutes of time, though possibly as much as a half-hour, and obviously are not in control of how quickly or efficiently questions are answered. We can only do our best to represent the 198,250 residents of Cambridge or Somerville and hope the MBTA appreciates the interest.
Let us know what’s on your mind! We might have an answer after Oct. 15.
A stronger
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MBTA employees and contractors freely use the Alewife(and other station) pedestrian plazas as free parking, directly next to a massive underutilized parking garage. This has destroyed the brick and asphalt paths. Could you commit to holding these employees responsible for their poor behavior?
What can Cambridge and Somerville do to help improve T service? I assume more bus lanes and signal priority would go a long way but would the T reward those investments with greater service levels? What else should the city Govs be doing to help the T improve?
What are the plans to expand bike parking at stations in Cambridge and Somerville?
I’m someone who used to commute via the 1 but have found it so unreliable and overcrowded as to be unusable and I have chosen to bike instead. How is the MBTA planning to improve bus performance, especially on the 1 (which is consistently one of the most crowded and least on time routes)? And is there any movement towards making the 1 and other bus routes fair free?
With all the fiscal challenges facing the agency, why is the T moving forward with a battery bus plan which will require 3 expensive battery buses to replace each diesel bus, and wildly expensive new bus garages? Has the MBTA conducted a detailed lifecycle emissions analysis of the battery buses including the tradeoff of mode shift from boosting frequency on diesel buses with the money instead? I am also very concerned about the finding that particulate emissions would increase with battery buses due to diesel heat. Septa spent tens of millions of dollars on battery buses and is now considering returning to trolleybuses because of all the issues with that pilot. Other cities with trolleybuses, like Dayton, San Francisco, and Seattle, are expanding their network and/or investing in new trolleybuses cheaper than battery buses that can run off wire for up to 15 miles, don’t charge at night when the grid is mostly fossil fuels, and don’t cause emissions from diesel heaters. As recently as the 1990s the T was proposing expanding trolleybuses to the SL5 route instead of removing them! While the investments in battery garages at North Cambridge and Quincy are underway, I want to ask whether the T’s new leadership will consider modern IMC trolleybuses for future electrification efforts. I am concerned that the battery bus plan will lock the T into an expensive technology with questionable emissions impacts. I know this decision was not made by this administration but I am very worried about the long term effects on our community.
Is the MBTA actively trying to improve the consistency of headways on the red line? Pre-Covid, the trains used to come much more evenly spaced. That being said, I’m super grateful for all the recent improvements in track conditions!