Transportation

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MAPC >> Transportation

Accessible, frequent, and fast public transit gets people to their destinations without contributing to traffic and is an important factor to lowering carbon emissions. Connected, well-maintained, and extensive trails, bike lanes, and sidewalks encourage active transportation, health, and recreation. Making roadways safe, comfortable, and accessible for users of all ages, abilities, income, and travel modes leads to healthier and stronger communities.

MAPC’s Transportation Department promotes sustainable transportation and strong infrastructure throughout the region in many ways, including transportation corridor planning, parking and land use studies, participating in projects to build bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, coordinating transportation funding programs, and advocating for transportation finance reform. MAPC is one of 22 members of the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which carries out comprehensive and cooperative transportation planning in the region.

To find a comprehensive library of our past transportation work, visit MAPC’s Publications Library.

Explore the categories below to learn more about the multi-faceted ways MAPC works to improve connectivity in the region.

Topic Areas

Technical Assistance

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

Topic Areas

Looking for more information about something transportation or transit-related?

You’ve come to the right place. Check out the pages below for in-depth material on our research, reports, partners, and more.

Emerging Trends in Transportation

MAPC remains current on emerging trends in transportation. Alison Felix of the transportation department researches and studies disruptive transportation technologies. This section includes departmental projects on the electrification of school buses, E-commerce, mobility as a service, transportation network companies, and autonomous vehicles.

Autonomous Vehicles E-Commerce EV Car/Buses Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Transportation Network Companies

Autonomous Vehicles

MAPC supports transportation that provides sustainable, accessible, and affordable service to the 101 cities and towns in the MAPC region. We recognize the transformative benefits that autonomous vehicles can have for Massachusetts’ economy, environment, and quality of life – as well as the challenges that could result from disruption to existing forms of mobility.

Autonomous vehicles will affect not only our transportation system, but also our economy, safety, workforce, environment, land use, and energy use. Learn more about MAPC's role in planning for autonomous vehicles.

E-Commerce

E-commerce is defined as the buying and selling of goods or services via the internet, typically with the online transfer of money and data to complete the sale. It can be business to consumer, direct to consumer, business to business, and consumer to consumer (e.g., on platforms such as eBay).

E-commerce has huge implications for transportation services such as increasing traffic, competition for curb space, demand for warehouse sites, impacts on brick-and-mortar retail, impacts on the food industry, and equity implications.

• APA Planning Magazine Article – What to Do When an E-commerce Warehouse Comes to Town

• Hidden and in Plain Sight: Impacts of E-commerce in Massachusetts

• From App to Table: Rapid Food Deliveries in Greater Boston - Coming soon.

EV Car/Buses

Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Transportation Network Companies

Fare Choices

A survey of ride-hailing passengers in Metro Boston.

Share of Choices: New Ride-hailing Research Brief

“Share of Choices” divides its conclusions into three categories: Travel Mode Share – the percent of total trips that are completed using rideshare; Public Transit and Revenue – how public transit ridership and revenue are impacted by these services; and Vehicle Miles Traveled – how ride-hailing vehicles are contributing to congestion by increasing the miles traveled by cars on Massachusetts roads. Learn more.

Public Transportation

The MAPC Transportation team works closely with transit authorities across the region on communications, fare initiatives, technical assistance, and community engagement. The transportation department work closely with municipalities as they work to develop supportive, transportations services across the region improving connectivity and accessibility for all riders.

Bus Train

Bus

Get it Rolling

Get it Rolling provides an overview of how to improve bus transit, implement pilot programs, and communicate with community members. It identifies crucial stakeholders and project milestones, offers examples of successful strategies, and distills lessons learned.

Correcting transportation inequities and injustices of the past can start with better buses. Simple, low-cost, and quick bus improvements create better service for communities, neighborhoods, and riders who have been disproportionately impacted by inadequate transit service in the past. These projects can ease delays during peak commute hours, facilitate mobility throughout the region, contribute to local and regional climate goals, and increase safety on our street.

MAPC has been following the MBTA Bus Network redesign since 2019. MAPC hosted an event in partnership with ITDP to examine other Bus Network Redesigns throughout domestically and internationally. Read the project overview here.

Better Bus Project

The Network Effect

Over twenty US cities and regions, with even more across the globe, have pursued bus network redesign as a means of transforming bus-based transit and meeting the changing needs of a growing population. How have some of these cities grappled with the challenges of planning, communicating, and then implementing what are often sweeping changes to their bus operations? What can planners and elected officials in Greater Boston learn from both the successes and lessons of other cities/regions in preparing for a bus network redesign?

Train

The West Station Area Transit Study

The study provides municipal and state governments, as well as the development community, with an objective evaluation of the strategies that could best improve access to jobs, labor, housing, healthcare, and other major destinations under different potential development futures both around West Station and the surrounding community. The results of this study will help municipal and state governments to proactively plan for and implement regional mobility improvements as the realigned Allston I-90 interchange area is developed. Finally, a direct outcome of this study will be transit services concepts that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) can use to inform the design of the new West Station.

Learn more about the West Station Area Transit Study.

The Green Line Extension

MAPC worked with the cities of Medford and Somerville to gather community input on the possibility of extending the Green Line to Mystic Valley Parkway/Route 16, and to study potential land uses and transit-oriented developments in the area.

The planning study is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), which will be actively involved in the process, along with the MBTA.

MAPC lead a community visioning process to examine how a future Mystic Valley Parkway station could foster transit-oriented development in the area, while minimizing negative impacts to the local community.

GREEN LINE EXTENSION REPORT

The final version of the Green Line Extension report is now available for download below

The report includes MAPC’s recommendations for the proposed Green Line extension along the Mystic Valley Parkway.

Transportation Demand Management

Reducing the demand for parking is closely linked with reducing vehicle trips, so many of the programs recommended for reducing parking demand are the same ones recommended for trip reduction through Transportation Demand Management (TDM). TDM programs typically aim to reduce drive-alone trips through strategies that encourage carpooling or the use of alternative modes.

Single Occupancy Vehicle Trips (SOV)

Because TDM programs reduce solo driving, less parking is needed; communities should account for this and reward employers who implement effective TDM programs through reductions to minimum parking requirements, allowing these employers to shed parking spaces they no longer need or build fewer to begin with. TDM programs are most implemented at large job sites, especially in suburban areas, but many components are also appropriate for large multi-family residential developments, and some can be implemented at the district or community level.

They offer the greatest benefits to employers that are constrained by their parking supply, those that can realize a financial benefit by using fewer spaces (for example, if the spaces are leased separately), or those that wish to redevelop a portion of their parking into usable building space. The community also benefits from reduced traffic and impervious surfaces.

Transportation demand management focuses on increasing transportation and transit system efficiency by understanding how people are using existing infrastructure.

Parking and Transportation Demand Management

Parking

Parking is a point of contention in communities across Metro Boston, yet there’s little hard data about how much parking we have and how much we need.

Perfect Fit Parking

MAPC’s Perfect Fit Parking initiative is developing the data and tools that communities need to establish informed, sustainable, and economical parking policies. Visit the Perfect Fit Parking site to learn more about where parking spaces are going unused.

Bike and Pedestrian Plans

Communities across the MAPC region strive to make their streets more accessible to all users. MAPC is aware of the growth and transportation across our region.

Bike and Pedestrian Plan

To support municipalities with advancing their transportation goals our department conducts bike and pedestrian plans to evaluate existing conditions, review opportunities for improvement, and provide recommendations for supportive infrastructure.

Landline

Landline is MAPC’s vision to connect our greenways and trails into a seamless network.

Landline

Our complete database of trails and bicycle facilities can be found at trailmap.mapc.org.

Climate Resilience

Climate Resilience

Coming Soon.

Covid Relief

MAPC has continued to support the municipalities in our region through a number of programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two examples of MAPC's Covid support are the Taxi program and MassDOT shared Streets and Spaces grant program. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a degree of uncertainlty – through the assistance of agency partners MAPC was able to support relief efforts across the region. The examples below are two programs that the transportation participated in to support Covid relief.

Taxi Program MassDOT - Shared Streets and Spaces

Taxi Program

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), in partnership with MassDevelopment, has developed a statewide grant program to provide funding for state and municipal agencies, regional transit authorities (RTAs), eligible non-profits, and Health and Human Services (HHS) providers to contract with a taxicab, livery, or hackney businesses for transportation and delivery needs.

This program is funded through a portion the MassDevelopment Transportation Infrastructure Enhancement Fund (TIEF). The purpose of the Fund is to provide financial assistance to small businesses operating in the taxicab, livery, or hackney industries to encourage the adoption of new technologies and advanced service, safety and operational capabilities and support workforce development. Learn more.

MassDOT - Shared Streets and Spaces

MAPC is eager to support our cities and towns in thinking through ways to repurpose street space to allow for safe walking and biking, more efficient bus service, and expanded outdoor dining and retail options. Here are some ways we can be of help:

Regional visioning and planning
Collective procurement of materials
Coordination and sharing of best practices
Technical assistance at the local level

Visit MAPC’s Shared Streets site to learn more about these initiatives.

Visit the Barr Foundation’s Quick and Creative Street Projects site to access examples and impact data. The site includes a toolkit which serves as a guide on how to measure impacts.

Technical Assistance

MAPC’s Transportation team works on a wide range of projects with cities, towns, and other partners. How can we work with your community?

Visit MAPC’s publications library to see past parking studies, complete streets work, transit-oriented development solutions, and more.

If you’re interested in working with MAPC, contact Transportation Director Eric Bourassa at [email protected].

Parking Assistance and TDM Procurement Bike and pedestrian plans Complete Streets Prioritizations plans Mobility Studies Bike Share

Parking Assistance and TDM

Parking is the link between land use and transportation planning, and the way we set parking policies has an enormous impact on the built environment and how we choose to get around. MAPC is available to help municipalities diagnose their parking problems and recommend solutions with downtown parking occupancy and turnover studies, zoning recommendations, and more.

Procurement

MAPC led a collective procurement in Fall 2014 for that Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies (MARPA) that will allow any municipality in Massachusetts to directly purchase smart parking meters or pay-by-phone services from selected vendors. The selected vendors are thoroughly vetted and are offering discounts of up to 60%.

MAPC has a dedicated professional team that specializes in procurements. If you are interested in procuring a transportation-related material this including pavement paint, signage, or other roadway treatments please contact a member of the transportation team.

Bike and pedestrian plans

Complete Streets Prioritizations plans

MAPC aims to make roadways more accessible for all travel modes and users of all ages, abilities, and incomes. Improving our roadways can increase safety, improve a community’s health and well-being, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and advance economic development. MAPC has technical assistance funding to assist our communities to adopt Complete Streets policies and develop and implement bicycle and pedestrian network plans.

Mobility Studies

The transportation team works with subregions to evaluate and study mobility conditions. MAPC has a total of eight subregions which comprise the 101 cities and towns in our region. Mobility studies are a form of technical assistance offered by the department. A mobility study allows transportation staff to closely review challenges and opportunities within a region and provide specific feedback to support critical connections to transportation services. This process usually involves the creation of a committee of key stakeholders that engage in the development and research of the region.

Bike Share

Learn More

Bicycle & Pedestrian

Roadways & Bridges

Public Transit

Parking

Local Technical Assistance

Livable Communities Workshop

Advocacy

Transportation Finance Reform

Reports & Toolkits

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is responsible for conducting the federally-required transportation and planning process for the Boston region. MAPC and the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) provide planning support for the MPO and for the region’s communities.

THE MPO develops a vision for the Greater Boston region and uses the plan to allocate federal and state funds toward transportation projects such as roadways, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle projects. This work includes developing regional bicycle and pedestrian plans and providing alternative land-use analyses for upcoming projects.

MAPC is one of 22 members of the MPO charged with carrying out comprehensive and cooperative transportation planning. The MPO is responsible for the development, review, and approval of three key planning projects:

Regional Transportation Plan

Every four years, the Boston Region MPO develops a new Transportation Plan. The Plan is the MPO’s long-range, comprehensive transportation-planning document. It defines an overarching vision of the future of transportation in the region, establishes principles and policies that will lead to the achievement of that vision, and allocates projected revenue to transportation programs and projects that reflect those principles and policies.

Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)