MBTA Reverse Commuting Study

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report coverPosted October 2005

Section 343 of the Fiscal Year 2000 budget passed by the Massachusetts General Court in November 1999 directed the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to prepare a study on the feasibility of providing additional commuter rail and connecting bus transportation services to facilitate reverse commuting. This report presents the results of that study, which was conducted for the MBTA by the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS).

Providing transportation for reverse commuters is only one element of the overall problem of linking employment locations with the homes of the workers employed at those locations. Advocates of expanded reverse commuting service envision it as a means of increasing the labor supply for suburban work sites while reducing traffic congestion problems often associated with these sites. Experience to date, however, indicates that reverse commuting transit services from Boston, whether by rail or bus, will make negligible contributions toward either of these goals.

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