Tech Execs Call for More Public Transit Funding in the Boston Region

A Red Line train recently derailed on the T in Boston, providing the latest example of the need for drastic measures to course correct public transit in the region.

1 minute read

June 28, 2019, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Boston T

f11photo / Shutterstock

Powerful business interests in Kendall Square, the corner of Cambridge where the region's tech industry focuses around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has had enough of the dilapidated condition of public transit.

According to an article by Jon Chesto, "a group of CEOs and other managers from three dozen or so employers who sent a letter to state officials on Monday complaining about an increasing source of frustration: the daily commute."

The letter focuses on the state's public transportation, which they describe as in a "state of emergency."

"And they want more money to fix it," writes Chesto. "The Kendall Square Association’s letter to Governor Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Karen Spilka declares, without any ambiguity, that it 'is time to raise revenue for transportation and end this crisis.'"

A June 11 derailment of a Red Line train on the T subway provides the most alarming context for the letter, but the letter is also "referring to the snafus and snarls, big and small, that hamper commutes around Greater Boston on a daily basis," according to Chesto.

Monday, June 24, 2019 in The Boston Globe

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