The Future of Transportation in Boston
Riding the Green Line Photo courtesy of Boston University School of Law
Boston has always prided itself as being different from New York City. We’ve always thought of our city as smaller, but in a good way. We’ve always marveled on our historically lower crime rate, cost of living and general population congestion. Furthermore, we’ve always frowned on the intense traffic congestion that has made New York City into a public transportation city.
However, increasing fuel, living, and housing costs have started Boston on a path similar to our big brother NYC. A recent article in the Boston Globe stated that the increasing gas price has drastically increased the popularity of the bus services between Boston and New York City. This increased popularity has opened the doors for small competitors like Fung Wah and Lucky Star which have thrown the first punch in a price war similar to the airline industry during the 1978 deregulation.
Just like any competitive industry, the only way to win a war is to cut of the enemy’s supplies. In this case it is cash. BoltBus is Greyhound’s answer to the low cost war. Starting in April, BoltBus will offer an introductory price of $1.50 to NYC. Greyhound has neither stated the time of the introductory period nor the number of passengers who can take advantage of this rate. Thus it is safe to assume that BoltBus will squeeze the small players enough to leave a mark.
So what is the next step for Boston? Surely, you’ve all seen changes to your T service with the introduction of the CharlieCard, Silver Line Services and cell phone signals in stations. I have lived in Boston my entire life and it wasn’t until recently that I’ve seen changes that will turn Boston into a great public transportation city. We just need to learn from New York City. How can we do it better? What would you like the T to have? How can we keep our Green Line Trolley service, but decrease the time it takes to travel from Boston College to the Museum of Science.
Even though the gas prices will hurt us all in the short run, it will surely be a step in the right direction in the long run. Boston has never been known as a Taxi Cab city like NYC, so we can surely take advantage of this missing alternative to the T by making public transportation a marvel for all other cities to admire. So my advice is to take the T more often, increase demand and speak out about recommendations and improvements.
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