Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition

Annissa Essaibi-George

I use different modes of transportation to get around my community, to work, and community events. When I am transporting my four boys to sports and school events, and when I commute in to City Hall, I usually drive.
When I travel from City Hall to community events during the work day, I often walk or take public transportation.

Our transportation infrastructure is entirely car-centric, relegating pedestrians, bikes, and other mode of transportation to the “extra space” after car lanes and parking space have been allocated. Further, distracted drivers pose a tremendous risk to non-car users of all kinds. Though the city has used pylons and markers, one of the most dangerous places to be in the city is in a bike lane or crosswalk. We need to take every action possible to refocus drivers and improve safety for non-car users.

I have been a strong proponent for investing in infrastructure and programming to make Boston safer and easier to travel. I have supported the creation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), more funding for protected bike lanes, and other important traffic calming measures. I advocated for and the budget was increased this year to include a Crash Analyst to work with the BPD & BTD to analyze accidents and make recommendations to improve safety after an incident. I have joined Councilor Wu in fighting MBTA fare increases. I have fully embraced Vision Zero and will continue my advocacy when re-elected.

Michael Flaherty

As an At-large City Councilor, a normal day includes meetings in all corners of the city, most of the time on a tight timeline. As such, I generally drive or carpool with staff to each of these meetings. I try to take the T when it is practical for my schedule, but this is a constant reminder that we need to improve the quality of public transportation in Boston so that the use of a car is not a necessity for reliable cross-city travel.

As a Boston City Councilor At-Large, I have seen and/or heard from residents about the following locations:
1) The intersection between the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center and Roxbury Crossing - extending onto Malcolm X Blvd.
2) L Street in South Boston.
3) Tremont St and Washington St, particularly during rush hours.
4) Along Centre Street, especially past the Arborway, JP leading into West Roxbury.
5) Crossing Commonwealth Ave and Beacon Street.
6) Speeding all across the city.

I have seen firsthand the daily frustrations of Boston residents and commuters as the region is plagued by traffic and our public transportation system continues to provide unacceptable levels of service. I am willing to support any method with the proper research behind it that can alleviate any of these transit issues. These include protected bike lanes, lower speed limits, illuminated and raised crosswalks, speed bumps, and road diets. We also need to work with the state to improve the MBTA across the board.

David Halbert

I use a combination of methods depending on where I am going and when. Currently I primarily travel via my personal vehicle due to logistical demands as a city wide candidate. I prefer to utilize public transportation or walk whenever possible.

The section of Morton Street (state route 203) from just west of the intersection of Morton and Harvard, until Cemetary Road in Jamaica Plain is very dangerous. This is a high speed, heavily trafficked thoroughfare that has no protected bike lanes and no sidewalks for pedestrians or those with mobility challenges. In addition to being dangerous, this lack of infrastructure further separates Dorchester/Mattapan from the Forest Hills neighborhood.

I realize that as we make policy recommendations on transportation issues we must prioritize equity as well. Striking this balance means thinking creatively about transportation. For example, I have been a strong advocate for creating more walkable neighborhoods across Boston, with everyday amenities nearby - thus reducing the need for residents to drive as often. I will bring this approach to all transportation discussions on the Council, along with the humility to seek input and assistance from stakeholders as I am not a transit policy expert.

Julia Mejia

I rely on my car because my lack of access to public transit essentially forces me to contribute to our city’s worst in the nation traffic and the accompanying environmental/public health risks.

Our public transit system is in complete crisis - it is unreliable and becoming consistently unsafe to ride. The lack of protected bike lanes throughout the city prevents more people from transitioning to biking. Street diets are needed in multiple high traffic neighborhoods to address both congestion and pedestrian safety.

I experience the inequities of mobility in our city and am ready to address these issues. I live in a low income community that doesn’t have easy access to public transit, requiring many folks to get a car just to get to work, leading to more traffic, pollution and accidents on our roads. This enables me to address transit issues from the perspective of income inequality that is necessary to equitably solve these problems and make Boston a city where all of its residents can easily and sustainably move from point A to point B.

Erin Murphy

Walking and by car

Speed enforcement, better sidewalk snow clearance, fix the T

I will work for a new Red Line station in Dorchester and reforming the MBTA

Alejandra St.Guillen

I generally combine the use of my car with public transportation. I take my son to daycare in Roslindale and thus drive from West Roxbury to Roslindale and then take public transportation if I’m going downtown. Generally, if I’m not going downtown, I will often drive from location to location to limit my travel time. I live very close to a Main Street district and thus am able to walk to places for leisure activities or light shopping.

In my immediate community of West Roxbury, Centre street between Lagrange to South has been a particularly dangerous area for pedestrians. There are two lanes going in each direction and there have been a number of accidents (including fatalities). It’s also not a bike-friendly stretch. As I knock doors across the city, I have found many areas lack proper infrastructure for people with disabilities - sidewalks ending suddenly, sidewalks that nearly impassable with a stroller (as I often have my son with me) and I’m sure extremely dangerous for older people and people with disabilities.

I would be a strong advocate for increased mobility options and safety across the city. My top priorities for advancing sustainability, especially in transit dependent communities will be working with advocates and city/state agencies to upgrade core transportation assets across the city and reinvesting in neglected transportation links, including protected and connected bike lanes.
Failure to find ways to expand access to high-quality transit, as well as alternative mobility options like walking and biking, will mean more pollution, congestion, stunted economic growth, and frustration. 

Michelle Wu

I commute to City Hall from Roslindale (most days with at least one of my kids) by taking the Orange Line from Forest Hills to State Street. A few times per month, we may change to catch the Commuter Rail from Back Bay Station to Roslindale Village on the way home. Since the implementation of the inbound morning rush hour dedicated bus lane on Washington Street, it’s been much easier and more reliable to take any of the buses (34, 34E, 36, etc.) from Roslindale Square to Forest Hills. Outside of this route, I also walk or use public transit or bike share to get to meetings across the city.

Too many streets across Boston are too dangerous for people who rely on them everyday. My shared campaign office is near Dudley Square, and nearly all the streets leading in and out of the area are among those with the worst crash rates, with conditions encouraging speeding and making it difficult to cross in a single cycle. Sadly these conditions are common throughout the city, and the top issue that I hear about when knocking on doors is how dangerous it feels to walk on even our residential streets due to speeding cars trying to avoid horrible traffic on main roads and unsafe street design.

Throughout my tenure on the City Council, I have fought for a more sustainable transportation future. From fighting for investments in cycling infrastructure and improvements in bus service, to helping expand access to youth T passes, to organizing a system-wide canvass of the MBTA alongside a coalition of commuters, advocacy organizations, and elected officials, I have worked to highlight the experiences of communities and people in pushing for transportation solutions focused on equity, scale, and urgency. Transit access and equity is fundamental, and we can't let it be only a state issue.

Annissa Essaibi-George

Constituents are most knowledgeable about their block, street, neighborhood and are bet positioned to help us identify where infrastructure can be improved to increase safety. I frequently hear from constituents about trouble spots and we work with BTD and others to improve the infrastructure to address these concerns. The Boston Bike Union and other advocate groups know the trouble spots for bikes and we need to fast-track improvements.

I have advocated for raised crosswalks in front of our schools, especially for elementary schools, at playgrounds, senior housing, and senior centers.

We need to place a greater emphasis on funding projects and initiatives that makes public transportation more accessible in Boston. Our broken public transportation network not only creates commuting to work, school, and moving around ones community much more difficult, but it costs our economy billions of dollars annually, and pushes occasional users of public transit to use their cars – further exacerbating the problem of traffic congestion.

Boston is a world-class city, and we must have a transportation network that matches our reputation. While there are limited measures the City can take to fix the broken MBTA, I still have used my role as a City Councilor as a bully pulpit to advocate for significant capital investments in train infrastructure.

I have and will continued to advocate for BRT through our commercial corridors, increased City investments in making our streets, sidewalks, and bike paths safer, better connected, and more accessible.

We also need to evaluate the frequency of resetting our traffic signal system across the City. This will help the flow of traffic, properly slow traffic and increase the transit network in particular for buses and the Green Line.

Boston lags behind many other major cities, because we do not prioritize off-street paths and protected lanes. Boston is an old city and our streets are tight, but we can work within our older design to identify main thoroughfares for bikes, much like the Southwest Corridor, to get bikes their own space. Two examples of this are the Harborwalk in Dorchester (around the gas tank) which would open one corridor to the south and adding protected lanes to Mass Ave to Melnea Cass to accommodate a high volume of bike traffic. Realigning our urban highways, like Rutherford Ave in Charlestown would connect Downtown to the North. The realignment of the Pike in Allston will allow for a connection to West Station, Brighton, and beyond. More immediately, reducing lanes and implementing curbs like they are doing on Commonwealth Avenue near Boston University on our wide streets such as Summer Street in South Boston and Melnea Cass Blvd would lead to more dedicated, complete, off street networks.

Michael Flaherty

A defining feature of the Vision Zero strategy in the City of Boston is the Neighborhood Slow Streets Program. Since its launch in 2017, the Neighborhood Slow Streets program is gradually extending into high traffic areas of the city. I have supported, and will continue to support, every neighborhood’s efforts to implement safety-oriented measures that enable and empower healthier communities.

We also need to look at more long-term sustainable budget solutions so that Slow Streets programming opportunities are available on a more equal and equitable level in every neighborhood. Further, I am supportive of building a more robust data framework for Vision Zero updates so that residents can better track the progress of current projects. The creation of a comprehensive map of completed and ongoing projects with clear benchmarks to track progress through the “zero” goal year of 2030 would bring greater accountability and transparency to the process.

The MBTA is one of the lifelines of our city; when it doesn’t work, our city doesn’t function properly. The recent derailments and technical difficulties served as a painful reminder of that. Our residents’ ability to go about their daily lives relies on a reliable public transit network. These minimum standards have not been met by the MBTA, and this fare hike creates an additional access barrier for commuters. Boston contributes $85.8 million to the local assessment revenues of the MBTA — more than half of the total local assessment revenues collected annually, and yet our residents are not being sufficiently served.
Despite the city’s hefty financial investment in the MBTA, we have no vote on the MBTA budget and no representation on the Fiscal and Management Control Board. Restoring Boston’s role in the decision-making processes of the MBTA is an essential step to fixing the issues that have plagued the system for decades. It is incumbent upon the MBTA to give Boston’s residents a voice in the ongoing conversation about how to fix our ailing public transportation system. Boston's residents and taxpayers deserve it. I have co-sponsored a hearing order to address these concerns.

I will continue to advocate for these important transit solutions on the City Council, particularly in the budget process, as I have done in the past. During this past budget season, I supported and voted for an increase in the capital budget for the Strategic Bike Network from $1.25 million to $4 million and increase Vision Zero funding from $3.9 million to $12 million.

David Halbert

As a member of the Council I will seek to see the body's Post Audit and Oversight Committee reconstituted and as to serve as Chair. I believe that the mandate of this committee, to review government operations and expenditures, is germane to the goal of seeking safer streets as it allows for precise and specific inquiry into what efforts the City has taken to achieve this goal and what the overall efficacy of those efforts has been. The information gathered by this type of inquiry can serve as a concrete building block for future proposals and performance review.

In addition I would make the goal of traffic-calmed streets a key component of any and all discussions with the city's transportation department. This would include conversations during the annual budgeting process - and would also be informed by the data from the Post Audit hearings in the 2nd year of the term and moving forward.

I will work with my fellow Councilors and the Mayor to promote all city-based efforts to increase public transit access and use. This would include streetscape and roadway redesign where appropriate; creating the necessary infrastructure to support bus rapid transit; and seeking to have Boston's voice reflected directly in MBTA leadership conversations, either via a city specific seat on the Board or through robust participation in a Community Advisory Committee similar to what exists with MassPort. I would also seek to work in as close a collaborative fashion as possible with Boston's state legislative delegation, since so many conversations around public transit - particularly funding - are decided at the state level. In order for Boston to achieve its full public transit potential it is critical that City Hall and the State House work together.

In order to reach this goal I will first work with advocates to engage residents at the local level to determine what connections will work best for their respective neighborhoods. As the contours and impacts on different parts of the city will be felt in very different ways. As this information is being compiled I will work with the necessary stakeholders in city government to determine how to most effectively and efficiently implement the findings once they are concluded - with realistic timetables set for accelerated establishment of this network determined and agreed to from the outset. I will also use my position and public profile to bring attention to the plan, via media and in communities, so that the general public becomes allies in maintaining the necessary pressure to keep the plan on track and accountable.

Julia Mejia

To help ensure our roads/crosswalks are safe and inclusive, I will be a strong advocate for continuing initiatives to convert and maintain raised curbs on intersections accessible to disabled folks. I will also work to increase the time allotted to pedestrian crossing on our intersections so that folks of all mobilities don’t have to worry about getting hit or holding up traffic. I will review the default speed limit of 25MPH and see if it can be lowered to 20MPH or lower in high fatality/pedestrian heavy corridors to further protect the people of Boston. Where street diets can be implemented, I will work with neighborhoods to help implement them. Because of the city’s history, the foundation for pedestrian first transit planning is there; we just need to ensure that we are being mindful about are implementation and oversight in achieving these goals.

We need to make it a system that gets all the people of Boston to where they need to go, not just one that likes to literally fly off the rails (and/or set itself on fire). I will work with and lobby the MBTA to expand the T into neighborhoods that don’t readily have access and fight for a free T for all to expand usage. I will activate local leaders and activists to provide oversight and advocate for their community. On the city level, I will work to further implement sustainable, people oriented transit infrastructure such as bus only lanes and median-protected bike lanes. I will be intentional about this rollout, targeting socioeconomically marginalized areas so that the benefits from expanding multi-modal transit will help build the foundation for an equitable and inclusive Boston. I will work with the PILOT working group to work to generate more revenue for the city to use to fund these efforts.

I will look to cities that have implemented this successful and work with organizations and community groups that are already working with the city to implement these plans. I will work with the Mayor to expand efforts to create street diets in neighborhoods across the city working specifically to ensure that our neighborhoods that are primarily communities of color are not left behind. Too often the city has prioritized street safety in predominately white neighborhoods. Ensuring a racial equity lens is applied to street safety and bike safety will be a central part of my approach.

Erin Murphy

Work with BPD and Mass State Police to enforce speed limits. Explore making some two-way streets into one-ways as is being implemented in South Boston.

A City Council seat on the MBTA Oversight Board to ensure Boston has meaningful input into the reformation of the T

I am working with Greater Ashmont to develop and build the Dot Greenway project which will transform the Red Line tunnel cap in Dorchester into bike and pedestrian paths. There are several similar initiatives around the City I look forward to supporting.

Alejandra St.Guillen

In order to slow traffic on our streets, we need to make greater investments in Vision Zero. In comparison to other major cities, Boston invests a relatively small amount per person to implement the changes we need to make our streets safer. I would advocate for the bike lanes across the city, including expanding dedicated lanes across high demand transit corridors in the city that are wide enough for bikes. I also support the expansion of the Neighborhood Slow Streets program to make whole neighborhoods safer for children, seniors, walkers, and bikers. I also believe that there needs to be a public outreach campaign that targets multilingual communities in multiple languages and people with physical, auditory, or visual disabilities across various mediums educating the public about the importance of becoming a safer, more walkable and bikeable city. Also, there are certain mobility safety issues more prevalent in some neighborhoods and this ad campaign should micro target those specific areas. Lastly, I would also promote the open space, arts, and place-making by working with city agencies and local residents to support weekend street closures.

My top priorities for advancing public transit in Boston, especially in transit dependent communities like Mattapan, Roxbury, East Boston, and high demand transit corridors like Washington Street, Blue Hill Drive, or Centre St will be working with advocates and city/state agencies to upgrade core transportation assets across the city and reinvesting in neglected transportation links, some of these improvements include:
--Installing transit signal prioritization technology to enable the city to control traffic and optimize signals in real time to increase efficient flows of bikes and buses, while also decreasing the energy use of traffic signals.
--Installing and enforcing dedicated lanes on key bus high demand bus routes to improve reliability and travel time to where you live, work, and play.

In order to reach the goals of Vision Zero, we must commitment to installing and maintaining bike and pedestrian infrastructure (sidewalks, lanes, crosswalks, etc) to promote safety and mutli-modal mobility. Capital investment will be key to being able to fast-track implementation of a city-wide network of off-street paths and protected bike lanes. I support raising revenue to meet these investments. We need to partner with our State colleagues on areas that are covered by the State jurisdiction and advocate for more funding to implement these networks. The city should report progress on a quarterly basis with the ambitious goals set forth.

Michelle Wu

I have been a strong supporter of Vision Zero, which is a proven strategy for improving traffic safety and saving lives. Boston's Neighborhood Slow Streets program, the Vision Zero residential traffic calming program, should be expanded and implemented with greater urgency. We have seen an outpouring of support and concern from residents across the city who want to change their streets to decrease speeding and reckless driving, but the program has not kept up with need. All residents deserve to benefit from this program, and I will continue to fight for funding and staff resources to implement this vision. We also need to fast-track our priority corridor redesigns and finish the job on vital corridors such as Mass Ave. Several years ago, protected bike lanes and pedestrian improvements were installed along this roadway in Back Bay and part of the South End, leaving out the section that connects to Dorchester. I support the Boston Cyclists Union’s campaign along this corridor and would like to see similar improvements expanded, with project timelines centered around a one-year planning and implementation cycle.

The most impactful, fastest, and most cost effective way to dramatically improve public transit in Boston is for city government to focus on bus service. Dedicated bus lanes have been proven to speed up bus, shorten commute times, and increase ridership. This past term, I supported the implementation of the Washington Street bus lane in Roslindale and advocated for the creation of the City’s new Transit Team to oversee transit priority in Boston along with the MBTA. I continue to fight for these efforts to be accelerated as quickly as possible. We need to fund more BTD planning outreach positions to deepen engagement and expand our scale. I will continue connecting riders and colleagues to work collaboratively on tackling transit service inequities. We also need to lower the barriers that fares impose by moving toward fare-free transit, starting by removing barriers for our most underserved riders through a discounted fare for low-income residents. To finance these policies and to improve transit on our streets, I will push for measures to limit congestion on our streets, especially near environmental justice communities, as a matter of transit equity and public health.

Creating networks of protected bike lanes and off-street paths are critical for expanding cycling access to people of all ages and backgrounds. One of our current hurdles is the lengthy timeline needed to plan and implement street redesign. We can fast-track projects by implementing improvements with simple, temporary materials like paint, signs, and flexposts through on-going maintenance work. Every street repaving project should be an opportunity to implement a Better Bike corridor. The same goes for bus-only lanes and tactical medians, or curb bump-outs for pedestrian safety. By leveraging ongoing work, we can build our way toward a more connected, sustainable transportation network in a smart, cost-effective manner. Once these improvements are in place, we can collect feedback and data, allowing us to tweak the design before making improvements permanent. I will continue to advocate for greater collaboration between the Public Works Department and the Transportation Department. Finally, we need to apply a network-based approach to our bike planning. Newly constructed protected infrastructure shouldn't just direct cyclists toward an unsafe street without bike infrastructure.