Draft Memorandum for the Record

Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
Meeting Minutes

October 9, 2025, Meeting

10:00 AM–12:45 PM, Zoom Video Conferencing Platform

David Mohler, Chair, representing Phillip Eng, Interim Secretary of Transportation and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)

Decisions

The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) agreed to the following:

• Approve the minutes of the meeting of July 17, 2025
• Approve the minutes of the meeting of August 7, 2025
• Endorse Federal Fiscal Years (FFYs) 2026–30 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Adjustment One
• Endorse the Revised TIP Project Rescoring Policy and Practice

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions

See attendance below.

2. Chair’s Report—David Mohler, MassDOT

D. Mohler announced that the Community Advisory Council has elected its chair and vice chair, Caitlin Allen-Connelly from TransitMatters and Karl Alexander from the Mystic River Watershed Association respectively.

D. Mohler also announced the State Transportation Improvement Program was approved by the federal government before the shutdown.

3. Executive Director’s Report—Tegin Teich, Executive Director, Central Transportation Planning Staff

T. Teich shared that she attended a summit hosted by the Shared Use Mobility Center in Chicago, presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Transit Association, and attended the Annual Conference of the National Association of MPOs in Providence along with other members of staff.

T. Teich announced that committee slates will be approved at the upcoming annual meeting.

T. Teich shared two staffing updates, Stella Jordan’s departure and Seth Asante’s retirement.

T. Teich previewed the agenda and announced upcoming meetings.

4. Public Comments  

Bill Deignan, City of Cambridge, voiced his support for the TIP adjustment addressing the Fitchburg Crossing project in Cambridge.

5. Committee Chairs’ Reports

Derek Shooster, MassDOT, summarized the role of the Unified Planning Work Program Committee and invited members to join.

Brian Kane, MBTA Advisory Board, summarized the role of the Administrative and Finance Committee and invited members to join.

Eric Molinari, City of Everett, summarized the role of the Congestion Management Process Committee and invited members to join.

Jen Rowe, City of Boston, summarized the role of the TIP Process and Readiness Committee and invited members to join.

6. Community Advisory Council Report—Caitlin Allen-Connelly, Chair, Community Advisory Council

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• MPO Community Advisory Council Leadership Statements (pdf)

C. Allen-Connelly provided an overview of the previous Community Advisory Council meeting to the board and expressed appreciation for being included on the board.

7. Action Item: Approval of July 17, 2025, MPO Meeting Minutes

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• July 17, 2025, Minutes (pdf) (html)

Vote

A motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of July 17, 2025, was made by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) (Eric Bourassa) and seconded by the City of Boston (J. Rowe). The motion carried.

8. Action Item: Approval of August 7, 2025, MPO Meeting Minutes

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• August 7, 2025, Minutes (pdf) (html)

Vote

A motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of August 7, 2025, was made by MAPC (Eric Bourassa) and seconded by the City of Boston (J. Rowe). The motion carried.

9. Federal Fiscal Years (FFYs) 2026—30 TIP Adjustment One—Ethan Lapointe, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• TIP Adjustment One (pdf) (html)

Adjustment One to the FFYs 2026–30 TIP includes two cost changes to Regional Target projects in FFY 2026: Bluebikes station replacements in Cambridge and air quality sensor procurement by MPO staff. It also includes a design change for the Fitchburg Line Crossing in Cambridge in FFY 2027.

Discussion

Lenard Diggins, Town of Arlington, asked why the Fitchburg Line Crossing funding is being programmed in FFY 2027 rather than FFY 2026.

E. Lapointe clarified that there are other projects that may use FFY 2026 funding that would also advertise in FFY 2026, and the delay allows for further review of that additional funding in the next TIP development cycle.

D. Mohler asked for clarification on the Bluebikes cost increase. E. Lapointe responded that it was due to an initial cost underestimate compounded by a cost increase.

D. Mohler also asked for clarification on the Fitchburg Line Crossing delay. E. Lapointe responded that the project would take more than a year to design.

D. Shooster stated that the air quality procurement project ID was incorrect and provided the correct ID, S13291.

Vote

A motion to endorse FFYs 2026–30 TIP Adjustment One was made by the Town of Arlington (L. Diggins) and seconded by the City of Boston (J. Rowe). The motion carried.

10. Revised TIP Project Rescoring Policy and Practice—Ethan Lapointe, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• TIP Project Rescoring Memo (pdf) (html)

E. Lapointe introduced policy updates designed to address some of the challenges encountered when developing TIPs. He explained that the TIP Project Cost Policies that the MPO adopted in 2021 have three major interventions associated with  project design, communication, and project rescoring. Some of the challenges in TIP development are due to the MPO board and staff having incomplete project information, insufficient time to deliberate and act, a narrow scope of review, and a need for a fair and objective decision-making process. To address these issues, the new policies are recommended to include consistent documentation regarding applications, introduce fall solicitation for complete scoring by spring, and apply policies objectively to all projects under a given threshold.

E. Lapointe explained that rescoring applied to projects that were scored under “outdated” criteria. He shared that the first test of this policy is already underway and hopefully all information gathering will be complete by the end of the calendar year.

E. Lapointe explained that while the policy revisions may be enacted today, further automatic project rescoring would not take place until the development of the FFYs 2029-33 TIP.

Discussion

L. Diggins asked if there was an enforcing mechanism for collecting rescoring information. E. Lapointe responded that projects with little to no information would be brought to the board for further decision but typically would receive a zero in an unanswered category.

J. Rowe thanked staff for working on rescoring, emphasizing its importance.

John Strauss, Town of Burlington, asked what the overall goal of the policy is. E. Lapointe responded that the goal is to provide the board with the information members need to make informed decisions.

D. Mohler asked if the thirteen projects being rescored were currently scored based on the criteria adopted from two prior Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) cycles. E. Lapointe responded yes, and he noted that further rescoring would be tied to LRTP cycles.

Vote

A motion to endorse the Revised TIP Project Rescoring Policy and Practice was made by MAPC (E. Bourassa) and seconded by the Inner Core Committee (Tom Bent). The motion carried.

11. Bluebikes and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Connections—Tanner Bonner, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• BlueBikes Connections (StoryMap)

T. Bonner stated that bikesharing can fill gaps in the transportation network during service disruptions or provide connections when regular transit service is operating. MPO staff conducted an analysis to determine how interconnected the Bluebikes and MBTA networks are and how Bluebikes trips are potentially interacting with the MBTA.

T. Bonner suggested that selecting locations for new Bluebikes stations is an opportunity to integrate bikeshare with transit and to improve the connection between the networks. The City of Quincy was supported by the MPO in new Bluebike station siting.

Discussion

L. Diggins asked if the data was publicly available. T. Bonner responded that documentation is in progress and will be publicly released.

C. Allen-Connelly asked if there was consideration of suburban towns with town centers and commuter rail stops as sites for Bluebikes stations. T. Bonner responded that there was a commuter rail analysis in the StoryMap and directed her to MAPC for more direct involvement in Bluebikes station siting with municipalities.

J. Strauss asked about the difficulty of returning BlueBikes to a station, particularly for suburban users returning home. E. Bourassa responded that usually four to five stations are placed in relatively dense areas to mitigate that issue.

Sandy Johnston, MBTA, thanked Tanner and the staff for their analysis and communication.

J. Rowe asked about coordination with municipalities and the MBTA concerning charging fees for Bluebikes stations’ space. T. Bonner responded that it is an issue staff identified through the literature review and staff would recommend this topic as a future point of coordination or research. E. Bourassa clarified that MAPC is working with Bluebikes contacts to create a fair policy on station rent.

Will Palmer, Community Advisory Council, stated that electric scooters are used in some areas, such as Providence, Rhode Island, for first- and last-mile trips and asked if there were areas where Bluebikes are being used instead of transit. T. Bonner responded that staff looked at some bus routes with crowding, but it is a point of further research.

12. Decarbonizing the Freight Sector: Exploring the Potential for Using Cargo E-Bikes for First/Last-Mile Freight Deliveries—Shravanthi Gopalan Narayanan and Kyle Casiglio, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• Cargo E-Bikes Checklist (pdf) (html)
• Cargo E-Bikes Report (pdf)

S. Gopalan Narayanan discussed the study background and explained common cargo bike typologies. She stated that a literature review, case studies, and stakeholder interviews were used in this study, and she showed the geographic distribution of cities researched.

She stated that the literature review identified key insights on applications, microhub activities, benefits, and challenges. The case studies included London, Berlin, and Bogota. The stakeholder interviews revealed pilot implementation challenges, policy and regulation issues, an urban logistics transformation, operation barriers, and the need for people-first freight solutions.

K. Casiglio summarized the key takeaways, including the challenges of locating and building microhubs, business use cases, and the need to define cargo e-bikes in legislation.

He shared recommendations and best practices for planning and policy, infrastructure, funding, and partnerships.

Discussion

T. Bent asked if staff found any insurance requirements in their research. S. Gopalan Narayanan responded that insurance was identified as a gap in the stakeholder interviews. K. Casiglio further answered that staff found no municipalities requiring liability insurance but highlighted that New York City is trying to address this currently.

13. Quarterly Engagement Dashboard Update and Annual Evaluation—Erin Maguire, Stella Jordan, and Jia Huang, MPO Staff

Documents posted to the MPO meeting calendar

• Quarterly Engagement (Dashboard)

E. Maguire provided background on why there are regular updates on public engagement data and the goals for these updates. She shared questions for board members to consider as they watch the presentation. She stated that this is both a quarterly update and a review of FFY 2025.

S. Jordan provided a geographic overview of feedback and comments collected, and summarized engagement methods. She said that having staff attending in-person events is a priority. She also said that staff have been more effective at engaging priority communities such as people with limited English proficiency, people with low income, and people of color.

S. Jordan shared key takeaways from the engagement data of the past year. She highlighted key accomplishments such as the Community Advisory Council, Vision Zero, and LRTP engagement.

J. Huang identified gaps in FFY 2025 engagement and shared priorities for FFY 2026 engagement.

E. Maguire shared a future request to identify priority goal areas to focus LRTP deliberations on. 

Discussion

J. Rowe asked about strategies to prompt the public to view the dashboard at regular intervals. S. Jordan answered that the hope is for the dashboard to be a consistent loop of information gathering and priority setting, and E. Maguire asked for any suggestions on how to improve outreach.

14. Members’ Items

E. Lapointe stated that on September 8, 2025, the Town of Ipswich voted not to continue advancing the design for the Central and South Main streets resurfacing project, which is currently funded through the TIP, and that this project will be part of the discussion for the development of the FFYs 2027–31 TIP.

L. Diggins said he has resigned from the Arlington Select Board.

E. Bourassa provided an update on MPO elections, noting that all four representatives of subregional seats are running unopposed.

Erin Chute, City of Brookline, announced that the City has posted an opening for an Associate Director of Transportation and Mobility and asked members to share this posting with their networks.

15. Adjourn

A motion to adjourn was made by the Town of Arlington (L. Diggins) and seconded by the Inner Core Committee (T. Bent). The motion carried.

Attendance

CIVIL RIGHTS NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

Welcome. Bem Vinda. Bienvenido. Akeyi. 欢迎. 歡迎 .

You are invited to participate in our transportation planning process, free from discrimination. The Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is committed to nondiscrimination in all activities and complies with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin (including limited English proficiency). Related federal and state nondiscrimination laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, disability, and additional protected characteristics.

For additional information or to file a civil rights complaint, visit www.bostonmpo.org/mpo_non_discrimination.

To request accommodations at meetings (such as assistive listening devices, materials in accessible formats and languages other than English, and interpreters in American Sign Language and other languages) or if you need this information in another language, please contact:

Boston Region MPO Title VI Specialist

10 Park Plaza, Suite 2150

Boston, MA 02116

Phone: 857.702.3700

Email: civilrights@ctps.org

For people with hearing or speaking difficulties, connect through the state MassRelay service, www.mass.gov/massrelay. Please allow at least five business days for your request to be fulfilled.