Forest Hills Station Redevelopment Plan

Boston Redevelopment Authority, City of Boston, MA

In anticipation of three surplus land parcels being sold by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Boston Redevelopment Authority engaged the community in the development of design and access guidelines for several development parcels in the area of the Forest Hills MBTA Orange Line Station.

As part of a team, the Collaborative examined transit operations, bicycle circulation, access, parking, and pedestrian pathways, and developed streetscape guidelines. The project included a series of short- and long-term actions to improve traffic operations, pedestrian and bicycle access, and streetscape improvements. These recommended improvements will better incorporate the station with the surrounding residential and park resources.

United We Ride

Community Transportation Association of America

To promote the efforts of the United We Ride program, the Collaborative developed an information campaign around the concept of “One Vision, One Call.” The program’s aim is to make it easy for all Americans to make one telephone call to arrange for a ride. The strength of the One Call vision is that it simplifies the conversation about how to better coordinate human service transportation. One Call shifts the focus to riders. Products included a primer for community leaders, meeting and web informational materials, technical assistance fact sheets, and other materials.

Chris Zeilinger, Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs and Training for the CTAA remarked, “I have been continually impressed, sometimes even astounded, by your firm’s dedication, cooperation, patience and perseverance as we’ve worked together to get a product completed to everyone’s satisfaction. It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with you, and it will be a delight if our paths can cross again in the future.”

Strategy to Promote Fixed-Route Transit

Transportation Research Board

The Collaborative helped to develop developed a strategy guide for part TRB to offer guidance on providing transit services for riders with disabilities in the most integrated setting possible. The guide included a summary of the literature, results of a national transit survey of practices, and detailed descriptions and analysis of successful strategies.

Highlights of the overall strategy include bus stop and pedestrian infrastructure improvement efforts, fare incentive programs, travel training, and innovations in ADA paratransit eligibility determination programs. All research is documented in TCRP Report 163.

Crosstown Connect Mobility Management Program

Acton, MA and Adjacent Towns

Community Partnership Award Ð 2015 International City/County Management Association
Recognizing innovative programs among local governments, other governmental entities, and private sector for providing more efficient and effective services.

The Collaborative provided analytical and mapping services as part of a team working with the towns of Acton, Boxborough, Concord, Littleton, Maynard, Stow, and Westford, MA to launch CrossTown Connect, a regional mobility management program. The project transformed current disparate, uncoordinated, and incomplete transportation services in the region into a new cooperative and coordinated system. The towns’ Councils on Aging consolidated their previously separate shuttles and on-demand ride services under a single centralized dispatch call center, increasing each community’s daily dispatch hours and ridership.

For its work, the collaborative received the 2015 Community Partnership Award from the International City/County Management Association, recognizing innovative programs among local governments, other governmental entities, and private sector for providing more efficient and effective services.