THE PIONEER BLOG

Scott Haller

T Has Failed to Hold Keolis to Commuter Rail Operating Contract

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Scott Haller

Over two-dozen rail operators initially expressed interest in the MBTA’s commuter rail contract, but only the incumbent, Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR), and a French newcomer, Keolis Commuter Services, submitted final bids. Keolis ended up winning the contract for at least the next 8 years with a $2.68 billion bid, making it the largest transit contract in the history of the Commonwealth and the most expensive rail operating contract in the country. Many saw this agreement as a turning point for the beleaguered commuter rail system. MBCR had been in charge for more than a decade, and long-standing criticisms of an absence of meaningful performance incentives were purportedly cured in the “no-excuses” contract. Under the new contract, each late […]

Editorial Staff

Statement on 2015 MCAS Results and Preliminary, Incomplete 2015 PARCC Results

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff

The release of 2015 MCAS results together with a patchwork of preliminary 2015 PARCC testing results provides little new information to help Massachusetts choose between the two tests. PARCC supporters claim the test’s rigor is evidenced by the fact that fewer students scored in its top two categories compared to those who took MCAS at some grade levels. But the evidence doesn’t support such a claim. First, school districts were simply allowed to choose which test to administer. Districts also had the option of offering PARCC by computer or on paper. The data released yesterday covers only the 59 percent of students taking PARCC who did so by computer. Though both MCAS and PARCC are based on Common Core English […]

Greg Sullivan

How to Save the MBTA Over $100 Million a Year

/1 Comment/in , , , , , /by Greg Sullivan

The first step in reforming the MBTA has been taken by the Legislature and the Governor. It included the establishment of a Finance and Management Control Board focused on the Authority’s operations as well as the new power to contract out services over a limited period of time. The second step for the MBTA has to be addressing the issues of immediate and short-term concern such as transit safety and the maintenance, upgrade and repair of assets that will allow the MBTA to function throughout even a difficult winter. Even as the work is underway, in order to ensure that the MBTA can address operational finance issues and make further investments and progress in addressing its multi-billion maintenance backlog, the […]

Scott Haller

There’s No Excuse for a ‘No-Excuses’ Contract With Excuses

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Scott Haller

Despite a “no-excuses” contract with Keolis Commuter Services for the commuter rail system, the MBTA has dropped the target on-time performance rate to 92% from its historical level of 95%. As Pioneer has shown before, this is a step in the wrong direction for the T. On-time performance is the most important metric for determining a commuter rail system’s performance and reliability; high marks improve rider confidence and can boost ridership. The MBTA’s contract with Keolis indicates that 92% on-time performance is the remedial performance level, i.e. the lowest acceptable value. In fact, achieving on-time performance levels below the remedial performance level for two consecutive months, or for three months within a twelve month period, is grounds to terminate the […]

Lauren Corvese

The Impact of UMass Tuition and Fee Hikes on Student Debt

/0 Comments/in , , /by Lauren Corvese

Student debt has reached astounding levels.  At nearly $1.2 trillion, outstanding student debt is nearly the highest form of debt in the country, second only to mortgages.  The situation has become a salient issue, not only part of a national conversation but also here in Massachusetts. Recently, Pioneer published a blog on the rising cost of tuition and fees at the University of Massachusetts that questioned why UMass was not looking to cut costs instead.  This past June, the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and fees for in-state students at UMass by more than 5 percent. Graduating student debt at UMass Amherst grew by nearly 20 percent from 2010-2014, highlighting the crippling long-term effect of the hikes.  Stakeholders […]

Lauren Corvese

MBTA Experiment Gone Wrong! The Green Line Extension Contract

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by Lauren Corvese

Background The Green Line Extension (GLX) is a long-awaited MBTA project, the result of a lawsuit settlement involving Big Dig mitigation and the Federal Clean Air Act.  The project as planned will add two branch lines to the northern end of the green line with five miles of new track, seven new stations, a vehicle storage maintenance facility, and an extension of the Somerville Community Path.  Recently, an estimated $1 billion cost overrun was announced, on top of the nearly $2 billion original price tag. The project is now 50 percent over budget—the budget that was used to secure 50 percent funding by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).  Because the 50 percent federal funding was locked in at the original […]

Jacob Tyler

On or Off Campus Housing for Boston’s Students?

/1 Comment/in , /by Jacob Tyler

With the new academic year upon us, students attending schools in the Boston area have settled into their new dorms or apartments. Many students, especially upperclassmen, prefer to move to off-campus apartments to avoid the high costs associated with living on campus. This is most apparent among Boston students who pay the second highest bill for sleeping and eating of any city in the country. Just look at the yearly and monthly expenses for the cheapest housing options from the following schools: School Room & Board Cost Monthly Cost Emerson College $15,700 $1,962.50 Harvard University $15,381 $1,922.62 Boston College $15,001 $1,875.12 Suffolk University $14,648 $1,831.00 Boston University $14,520 $1,815.00 Northeastern University $14,472 $1,809.00 Tufts University $13,094 $1,636.75 (Note these costs include the […]

Christina Doran

The Cost of Toll Collectors

/0 Comments/in /by Christina Doran

  Are tollbooth workers economically inefficient? State officials seem to think so. Next summer, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) toll collectors are slated to be out of work. So what is the cost of manual toll collection and what are the financial implications of going cashless? According to data from Massachusetts Open Checkbook, 763 full-time and seasonal toll collectors worked on Massachusetts’s roads in 2014.  In a 2013 investigative report, WBUR news estimated that 45 to 50 cents of each cash transaction on the Pike and Tobin Bridge went to pay toll workers’ salaries, costing the state $55 million that year. Open Checkbook records demonstrate that full time Toll Department II collectors made, on average, $88,369 in 2014. A majority […]

MuckRock

The Clock is Ticking on Massachusetts Public Record Reform

/0 Comments/in , , /by MuckRock

From the Green Line extension’s woes, to the narrowly dodged disaster of the Olympics, to even the text messages and emails at the heart of BradyGate, it’s hard to think of a time where transparency has played a more prominent role in Massachusetts public discourse. If the Commonwealth finds itself in need of a new motto, “Trust, but verify” would make a strong contender. As is all too often the case, despite the critical role transparency has played in shaping the events of summer, and the lip service being paid to it by people and politicians alike, the mechanisms that ensure public disclosure remain outdated and obsolete. Unless we act fast, we’ll lose the best chance we’ve had at fixing […]

Matt Blackbourn

An Uncertain Future for Ridesharing Services in Massachusetts

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by Matt Blackbourn

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new policy that will allow ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft to operate at LAX—the second busiest airport in the United States, and fifth busiest in the world. Mark it a huge loss for the Los Angeles taxi industry and another victory for the ride-hailing firms that continue their fight for existence in lawmaking bodies and courtrooms across the country. Massachusetts is no exception: the battle over Uber and Lyft’s future in the Bay State has arrived on Beacon Hill, and the fate of three bills (listed below) will largely determine these companies’ future in the Commonwealth. Bill H.3351 – An Act Establishing Department of Public Utilities Oversight of Transportation Network […]

Christina Doran

Turnpike Inequity: The Time to Fix it is Now

/0 Comments/in /by Christina Doran

“I completely get we have an equity issue (with tolls) we need to address”, Richard Davey, the then Secretary of Transportation, conceded to the editorial board of the MetroWest Daily in March 2014. He also stated that tolls wouldn’t likely be removed on the Mass Pike west of Rte. 128 as they were slated to be because the highway likely would not be in a state of good repair. Since his candid admission, efforts to fix the persistent highway inequity have stalled. Conversations about MassDOT’s incoming cashless tolling system have renewed the debate. Legislators have yet to seriously tackle the fairness of charging more for some motorists to drive than others. Drivers using the Pike to get into and out of Boston have paid tolls for […]

Lauren Corvese

UMass Tuition Hikes: Why Not Cut Costs?

/2 Comments/in , , , , /by Lauren Corvese

And shouldn’t in-state students be the top priority? WRKO’s Boston.com Morning Show Host Kim Carrigan interviewed Pioneer’s Mary Connaughton about the findings in this post. Listen here. Just two days ago, the Boston Globe highlighted an important issue regarding UMass tuition and fee increases for the coming academic year.  While making a fair point that public investment is needed to improve the quality of education at the University of Massachusetts, Pioneer offers a different take: rather than concentrating on obtaining greater funding, UMass should focus on cutting costs internally and on putting the focus back on its in-state students.   Tuition and Fee Hikes In early August, MA Senate President Stanley Rosenberg wrote a letter to UMass President Marty Meehan asking […]

Sabrina Chishti

Boston: The Jaywalking Capital of America?

/0 Comments/in , , /by Sabrina Chishti and Kevin Lawson

If you see someone waiting for a walk signal at a Boston intersection, you know he or she is a tourist. The rest of us do a rapid-fire speed check of oncoming traffic and gauge the risk of crossing, walk signal or not. It doesn’t work that way in most other US cities where fines for jaywalking are steep. The jaywalking fine for Boston is laughably cheap—just $1. Even though Boston has fewer pedestrian fatalities than New York City, the fine does nothing to deter pedestrians from crossing whenever and wherever they want to. City (Most to least populous) Jaywalking Fine Pedestrian Fatalities in 2013 Fatality Rate per 100,000 People New York City $40-$100 178 2.12 Los Angeles $190-$250 76 […]

Jim Stergios

Op-ed: Big money pushes PARCC and Common Core

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Jim Stergios

Each year, much is written and said about K-12 education when students head back to school. That will be especially true this fall, as the education policy community eagerly awaits a decision by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education about whether to keep the MCAS tests, or switch to assessments developed by the national Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). The decision will impact not only which test Massachusetts uses to assess student achievement, but also what is taught in Massachusetts public schools. PARCC is aligned with the controversial Common Core curriculum, with its emphasis on workplace readiness. MCAS, on the other hand, was aligned with Massachusetts’ own standards, which emphasized a liberal arts education and […]

Christina Doran

Promising implications of MassDOT All Electronic Tolling, with a Catch

/0 Comments/in /by Christina Doran

Efforts to convert all Massachusetts highways to an electronic tolling system are well underway. Awarded a $130 million contract from the state Department of Transportation (DOT), Raytheon Company hopes to replace all manual and existing toll collection systems by the summer of 2016, eliminating barrier tolls as well as the distinction between ticket- and trip-based tolling. Segments of drivers will instead be routinely charged along mainline highways. All electronic tolling technology shows economic promise for the state. Recent adaptations to the program address the system’s initially inefficient billed fee collection process. According to the transportation department’s most recent annual performance report, E-ZPass accounts for over 72% of all transactions taking place at MassDOT toll facilities. Increased electronic toll transactions from […]