Amid Multiple Crises, MBTA Fields Pitches For New Agency Marketing Campaign “You don’t want to be too rosy but I actually think they can do a better job of highlighting the work they have done.” After paying a politically-connected consulting firm more than $4 million to come up with slogans like “Take the Orange Line. […]
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: CHERYL AMIRAULT LEFAVE
“Everything that I came across for 40 years has been a battle.” It seemed that last week a decades-old controversial case was headed for a pardon vote. Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker had recommended a pardon for Cheryl Amirault LeFave and her brother, Gerald, in the well-known and highly disputed Fells Acre Day Care case. […]
UNFARE?
Transit advocates question costly MBTA study to determine new fare structures As the MBTA prepares to launch a massive study of its fare policies—paying private contractors nearly $1 million to recommend potential changes—transit advocates are questioning why the outgoing Baker administration is setting goals for the T and are urging the agency to pump the […]
HACKS, FACTS & CONTRACTS: FOIA FOLLOW-UP
Photo of Gov. Baker surveying Orange Line track work in 2019 by Joshua Qualls/Governor’s Press Office Internal Emails Show How MBTA Sought To Market “Safe,” “Good” Trains As System Failed Starting today, the MBTA shut down the entire Orange Line for a month for massive maintenance and repair work. Riders were told two weeks in […]
HACKS, FACTS & CONTRACTS
As trains broke down, the MBTA’s million-dollar marketing campaign kept running In 2019, a politically-connected state contractor laid out a series of messages and ideas for its Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority clients in what was dubbed their “MBTA Brand Creative Presentation.” Large concepts like “Performance Improvement” and “Fiscal Discipline” were broken down by objectives, situations, […]