North Shore Coalition Mayors and Managers sign vision for Regional Transportation partnership and funding to improve access and mobility for all on November 1, 2019 at the Salem State University Enterprise Center. The North Shore TMA was in attendance and our very own Outreach and Programs Manager, Aileen O’Rourke spoke about her efforts to get more kids walking and biking to school through infrastructure improvements and through a partnership between the Bike and Ped Committee in Manchester and the State Safe Routes to School Program.
Data from MAPC indicate, “108,000 North Shore residents travel to jobs outside of the region daily, 36,000 travel to Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge. About 95,000 residents in the North Shore travel to jobs within the region and an additional 68,000 residents from across the State travel to jobs in the North Shore.” That is a substantial number of people who live and work in the North Shore and travel to the North Shore for work. But our transportation system is not keeping pace. Travel times are increasing, MBTA Commuter fares are high, and our system is not reliable or frequent enough.
The Coalition highlighted the following four priority items: electrifying and improving the commuter rail, expanding regional water transportation options, adopting municipal green fleet policies and expanding charging station availability, and promoting regional bike share and micromobility.
The 18 Action steps and guiding principles can be viewed here.
Funding opportunities presented to fund these goals include: gas tax and other vehicle tax, capping greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, increased surcharges for Transportation Network Companies (UBER and Lyft), and expanding tolling to other highways. More info can be found here.