Attracting talent, fostering creativity, and building brand among factors outined in new national survey

Hundreds of American companies, including dozens in Massachusetts, see unique competitive advantages to being located in a walkable downtown neighborhood. These locations are helping companies attract and retain talented workers, build their brand and corporate identity, support creative collaboration, be closer to partners, consolidate operations, and support triple-bottom line business outcomes.

A new report released today outlines that Boston’s Olympic bid offers a unique opportunity to create new neighborhoods, build more housing, improve transportation infrastructure, generate short- and long-term jobs, and increase tourism in the Boston region. But the report says this can happen only if Boston 2024, the Commonwealth, the City of Boston, and neighboring municipalities establish a coordinated planning process that focuses on the “legacy impacts” of the Games – the long-term, regional benefits that will last beyond 2024. 

The report was issued jointly by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA), and Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA). 

The debate around fixing the MBTA continues on Beacon Hill, with members of the House and Senate meeting this month to reach a compromise. Please call your State Representative and State Senator today and leave this simple message:

Please keep MBTA fares affordable and preserve funding for the statewide transportation system as well as the MBTA. 

We applaud Governor Baker for announcing the MBTA Winter Resiliency Plan and see this as a good step in improving reliability for MBTA riders.  The proposed $82.7 million plan will provide new infrastructure, equipment and operations to help keep the MBTA running during winter weather by focusing on the most critical points of failure experience in the winter of 2015.

Transportation matters to everyone. It's how we move employees, students, goods, customers and visitors. We can't take it for granted. We have to work for the transportation future we need: reliable, affordable, accessible, healthy and convenient.

In that spirit, a warm welcome to our newest coalition members: we are pleased to work alongside the New England Venture Capital Association, TransitMatters, the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce and Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MassCAP) as we move Massachusetts forward to a strong future served by great transportation choices.

We are pleased to share the testimony of John MacDougall at the Joint Transportation Committee on May 27.  John serves on the Transportation Working Group of 350 Massachusetts, a coalition member since 2014.

As the debate over how to fix the MBTA continues on Beacon Hill, we’ve spread our message throughout the state. That message is simple: We can’t expect to fix the T for the long-term without both investing more money in the system and getting more value from every dollar we spend.

Here’s a look at the places our op-eds have been published:

May 22, 2015

With the passage of the FY2016 State Senate budget, Transportation for Massachusetts appreciates the work of the Governor and the Senate to find common ground that serves as a foundation for investment and reform to build a better MBTA.  Affordable, reliable, accessible and adequately-funded public transit is critical to the success of the region and the entire Commonwealth.

Today, the Governor’s team held a press conference to rally people behind his transportation plan.  While Transportation for Massachusetts applauds the attention Governor Baker has paid to the MBTA, and supports immediate implementation of many of the Administration’s proposed reforms to make the MBTA more efficient and customer-focused, we are concerned that three of the proposed fixes in the Governor’s legislation will actually hurt the MBTA, MBTA riders, and transportation throughout the state. 

Transportation for Massachusetts is seeking an experienced Advocacy Director to promote policy, legislation and regulations that support public transportation, walking, biking, and other affordable, clean and reliable statewide transportation options.