StreetsblogMASS

@mass.streetsblog.org

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Connecting people to information about how to improve walking, biking, and transit across the Commonwealth

A map of Bluebikes stations around Davis and Porter Squares showing several stations with no bikes available, and others with only one bike available
A large crowd of people many of whom are wearing yellow in front of Boston City Hall
A line chart showing "MA transit agency ridership as a percentage of pre-pandemic average annual ridership". The x axis shows years from 2019 to 2025. The y axis shows percentages from 0% to 150%. Six colored lines generally follow a S-shaped curve across the chart. All the lines start at 100% in 2019, then decline to 50 to 75 percent in 2020. After that, the lines for the MBTA (not fare free), Cape Cod RTA (fare-free since June 2025), Pioneer Valley RTA (fare-free since Nov. 2024), and Lowell RTA (fare-free since Dec. 2024) climb slowly and steadily, reaching 75 percent to 100 percent of their 2019 levels in 2025. Two other lines – for the Brockton RTA (fare-free since December 2023) and Southeastern RTA in Fall River/New Bedford (fare-free since Jan. 2024) rise slowly until 2023, then spike upwards in 2024, reaching around 150% in 2025. The MeVa (Lawrence/Haverhill) line spikes up in 2023 and again in 2024 before plateauing around 150% in 2025. MeVa went fare-free in March 2022. The tallest line, for the Worcester RTA, which has been fare-free since 2020, hits 125% in 2022 and plateaus above 150% in 2024 and 2025.
Screenshot of a deleted post with a typo: "City councilor Shannon Durkan warns that the amended budget will 'undoubedly result in layoffs'"
Screenshot of the linked article reading "Dallas is also planning to pedestrianize several downtown streets next to to its fan festival zone and its World Cup broadcasting center, even though its World Cup games will be 17 miles away at a suburban football stadium."
Screen shot of an article: Heading: "More asphalt, fewer sidewalk repairs" "In a slide deck presentation at the beginning of the budget hearing, city staff revealed that they aim to re-pave about 45 miles of streets and re-build 75,000 square feet of city sidewalks this year. "That latter number sounds impressive, but in fact, it would cover only about 1.4 miles (7,500 feet) of a single 10-foot-wide sidewalk, in a city with over 800 miles of streets. "In the Streets Cabinet’s 2025 budget presentation, Gove’s predecessor, former Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge, reported that the city had repaired more than 14 miles’ worth of sidewalks in 2024."
Chart titled "Massachusetts weekly average retail gas prices per gallon" with the y axis spanning $0 to $4 and the x axis spanning from early January to March 25. A blue line charts prices, which are steady around $2.99 to $3.02 until March, then then line rises steadily to $3.07 on March 1, $3.47 on March 8, $3.65 on March 15, and $3.84 on March 22.
Pedestrians and an older person riding a bike crowd a sidewalk alongside an MBTA bus next to a white-painted "ghost bike" leaning against a traffic light post.
A text snippet reading: "Massachusetts law (Chapter 161A, section 5(s)) also requires the T to keep personal data confidential. But those laws are only as good as the governments who enforce them. And this feels like an appropriate place to report the fact that Cubic, the vendor that's setting up this new fare system for the T, is also a major military contractor that sells technology and equipment to militaries in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Israel. Cubic also just announced this month a "strategic partnership" with Palantir, the Trump-aligned AI company that provides extensive data services to facilitate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. The MBTA insists that our data is safe. "In addition to technical safeguards, the..."
Two men in business suits sit at a desk covered with papers. The man on the right is flipping through the papers in front of him as he speaks.
A map of Boston showing the proportion of Black residents by census tract in shades of green; Roxbury and Mattapan in the southern part of the city have the darkest shadings. Overlaid on top is a map of the "pokiest" 10 slowest bus routes in the MBTA in 2024, most of which converge in the center of the map around Ruggles and Nubian Square in Roxbury.
A bar chart headlined "not net zero" with a subheadline reading "Existing and forecasted climate-heating pollutants from all highways and local roads within 5 miles of the Cape Cod Canal. Source: Cape Cod Bridges Program Environmental Impact ​Report, Appendix 4.14". The bar chart shows two boxes representing greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 (left) and in 2050 (right). The right bar is slightly smaller, representing a 17 percent decrease. The y axis runs from 0 to 600,000 tons. The height of the left bar is 489,186 tons and the height of the right bar is 405,729 tons. A red dotted line from the left bar to the bottom of the right bar indicates the path to "net zero" emissions as required by law.
Screenshot of a deleted post that incorrectly reads "Hoboken NY will this week start using cameras to ticket drivers who block bike lanes, bus lanes, and loading zones in its downtown." Hoboken is in fact in New Jersey
Screenshot of partial election results, as of 10:10 p.m., in the Boston Sept. 9 preliminary runoff election for mayor. Incumbent Michelle Wu leads with 69.3% (12,523 votes) followed by challengers Josh Kraft (4,692 votes, 26%), Robert Capucci (502 votes, 2.8%) and Domingos DaRosa (351, 1.9%).
A map of the cities north of Boston, with Boston Harbor on the right, highlighting in pink 7 roadways: Everett St. and Charles River Dam Rd. near the Charles River in Boston (lower edge), Mystic Ave., Fellsway, and Revere Beach Parkway, which form a triangle in the center of the map around the Mystic River, the Lynnway in Lynn at upper right, and Ravine Road in Stoneham and Melrose, at the upper center edge of the map.
Google Maps screenshot of the North End showing heavy northbound traffic on North Washington Street between Haymarket and the Bill Russell Bridge
A bar chart showing four different budget proposals from (from left) Gov. Healey, the House, the Senate, and the final enacted budget, whose bars add up just below the level of a dotted line showing the MBTA's anticipated FY2026 spending levels.
A wide city street with fresh asphalt and no painted lane markings. In the background are several high-rise buildings
A chart shows how much land in Woburn Center is buried under asphalt and concrete pavement (about 9.5 acres) compared to buildings (7.5 acres) and the green space of the town's central common (just 0.5 acres). The left side of the image shows an aerial view of the area around the Town Common, with a 150-meter circle around the central Civil War Monument highlighted. A pie chart of the right side shows the proportion of that circle that's paved vs. building area vs. green space.
A bar chart showing four different budget proposals from (from left) Gov. Healey, the House, the Senate, and the House-Senate supplemental budget compromise.
A bar chart titled 'Tesla Drags Down Massachusetts EV sales' with a subtitle that reads 'Massachusetts electric vehicle rebate applications for the first four months of 2024 vs. the first four months of 2025. Source: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, mor-ev.org/statistics'; Two stacked columns in red (for Tesla sales) and blue (for non-Tesla EV sales) sit side by side: the left column represents sales for Jan-April 2024 and the right column for Jan-April 2025. The left column is taller, and the red portion (for Tesla) makes up about 2/3rds of the column height. The right column is slightly shorter, and the red and blue portions of the column are almost evenly split.
Screenshot of an X.com post from MassDOT reading "On 5/14, at 6:30PM, #MassDOT will hold an in person public information meeting for the Springfield "The X" Reconstruction of Sumner Ave. at Dickinson St. and Belmont Ave. Location: 46 Oakland Street, Forest Park Middle School Auditorium, Springfield" A truncated URL at the bottom of the text post reads "mass.gov/event/lynn-rehab..." An image below the text shows the MassDOT logo with an aerial view of the X intersection in Springfield. A timestamp reads 4:01 pm May 9, 2025: 5,565 Views.
An overview map of the Border to Boston trail network, stretching from Newburyport in the north (upper right) to Boston in the south (lower center). Gaps in the trail network are designated in red dotted lines for projects in progress and gray dotted lines for conceptual future trail projects.
Workers hang new transit maps on the wall of a hallway under a sign for commuter rail and transit lines
An animated GIF showing an aerial overhead view of three versions of the same intersection in sequence. The first frame labelled "existing conditions" shows a large rotary in the middle of a leafy residential neighborhood. The second frame labelled "2022" plan shows a large multi-lane, four-way intersection in place of the circle. The third frame labelled "2025 plan" shows a larger intersection with several more lanes leading into it, moved slightly towards the upper-right corner of the image.
Table showing "travel times into the CBD improved on all AM peak Hudson River and East River crossings". The table below has columns for each crossing, crossing length (in miles), post-congestion-pricing travel times from Jan. 8, pre-congestion-pricing travel times from January 2024, and the year-over-year percentage change. Lincoln Tunnel (EB): 1.5 mi, 4:14 travel time in 2025, 6:59 in 2024, a 39% improvement; Holland Tunnel (EB): 2.1 mi, 4:27 now, 12:48 before, a 65% reduction; Hugh Carey Tunnel (WB): 1.8 mi. 4:23 now, 5:47 before, a 24% reduction; Brooklyn Bridge (WB): 1.5 mi, 4:02 now, 5:38 before, 28% reduction; Manhattan Bridge (WB): 1.5 mi., 3:16 now, 3:37 before, 10% reduction; Williamsburg (WB): 1.9 mi., 4:30 now, 6:51 before; 34% reduction; Queens Midtown Tunnel (WB): 1.5 mi, 3:33 now, 5:50 before, 39% reduction; Queensboro Br (WB): 1.4 mi., 4:02 now, 6:01 before; 33% reduction
A photoshopped close-up of a "How's My Driving" bumper sticker amended to read "How's My Streetsblogging?"
A truck passes a bike lane separated from the traffic lane by a row of plastic flexible-post bollards. The pavement is wet with falling snow, which is beginning to accumulate in the planting areas of the adjacent sidewalk.