Transit expert underscores last-mile transit connections with #BUCPUA students
On June 7, Ari Ofsevit, the former Program and Communications Coordinator for the Charles River Transportation Management Association, visited BU City Planning and Urban Affairs (BUCPUA) students in Doug Johnson’s UA 510 Course, Transit-Oriented Development in the 21st Century. Ofsevit provided an intriguing glimpse into the challenges and trends affecting transportation demand management in the Greater Boston Area.
“The most interesting thing Ari touched upon was the importance for the City of Boston to encourage transit system ridership through push and pull factors. Decreased driving can be accomplished through push factors such as limiting the number of parking spaces and increasing parking costs, while pull factors toward public transit include improving the convenience and reliability of our public transit choices,” shared undergraduate student Julia Shaw (CAS’18).
During Ofsevit’s lecture, he prodded students’ knowledge of local, regional, and global transportation trends and solutions.Through illustrative maps and info graphics, Ofsevit compared public transit strategies in cities such as Calgary, Vancouver, Waltham, Dedham, Lexington, and Boston.
Previously, Ofsevit helped manage the Charles River TMA shuttle, EZRide. EZRide was launched in 2002 to pull demand off core transit hubs in Kendall Square, East Cambridge, MIT, and Cambridgeport. EZRide provides one-seat rides between worksites and North Station, Lechmere, and Kendall Square MBTA stations. EZRide, which is free to member affiliates and all members of the MIT community, continues to fulfill crucial last-mile connections for commuters and residents of the Greater Boston Area.
“To justify spending money on big changes, it is essential to first show that little changes can work,” explained Ofsevit. “Transit experts should first identify and then leverage instances of excess capacity among different modes of public transit.”
Following Ofsevit’s lecture, Julia Shaw shared, “Boston really needs to take responsibility for improving the City’s transit instead of simply creating further policies and barriers that limit and restrict its transportation options.”
Ofsevit received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Urban Studies from Macalester College. His numerous accolades include winning the MassDOT Late Night Data Challenge, Hubway Data Challenge for Best Data Visualization, and StreetTalk: Quantitative Measurement of Infrastructure Changes to Longfellow Bridge, among others. Ofsevit can be followed on his blog, The Amateur Planner, and on Twitter @ofsevit.
– Courtney Thraen (MET’17)