Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Accident rate is the equivalent of a car driver going an average of six years between accidents — while managing 40-to-60-foot-long vehicles, constantly pulling into and out of stops, operating on congested streets, and taking care of customers inside the bus.

A total of 827 serious crimes were reported last year — 21percent fewer than 2008. The number of aggravated assaults fell from 103 to 88. There were no homicides. More than 360 million passenger trips were made on MBTA services last year.

The original contract with the city of Boston was signed in 2003 for five years, with three-year and two-year extension options.

Will begin a procurement process in 2012 for a new contract to operate commuter rail services and, in the interim, has exercised the final option on the contract with the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co.

The planned nine-story, 1,900 space South Garage Parking Facility at Wonderland station will support Waterfront Square, a critical smart growth and transit-oriented development project. Total garage construction budget is $47 million.

Will involve the release of common, harmless tracer gases on underground portion of MBTA subway system from December 5 to 11.

New MassDOT appointee has a conflict of interest due to current membership on the MBTA Retirement Board, Sen. Baddour said.

Orders are from both current and new customers and are for a variety of vehicle configurations and propulsion systems, including 35-, 40- and 60-foot buses with clean diesel, diesel-electric hybrid, gasoline-electric hybrid and compressed natural gas (CNG) propulsion systems.

In the 18 months since the first campaign was launched in April 2008, transit police made 28 arrests for indecent assault and battery --- a 40 percent increase over arrests made for the same offense in the 18 months before April 2008.

For the first time ever the maps will display connections to key bus routes to and from subway stations.