We are pleased to file the enclosed report, in compliance with Section 6 of Chapter 25 of the Acts of 2009 (An Act Modernizing the Transportation System of the Commonwealth), which requires that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) submit a yearly Performance Management Report to the members of the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees and the Joint Committee on Transportation.
MassDOT’s annual Performance Management Report summarizes the agency’s performance for Fiscal Year 2023 (July 2022 through June 2023). It is organized by division (Aeronautics, Highway, Rail and Transit, and Registry of Motor Vehicles) and the MBTA. Over the past year, the Office of Performance Management & Innovation has worked closely with each division to update this report with current data.
As citizens of the Commonwealth transition to more healthy and sustainable modes of transport, we have started to see recovery of MBTA ridership which increased 14.8% in FY23. By the spring of FY23, 54,000 passenger miles were in bus priority corridors or queue jumps on an average weekday, a 42.1 percent increase from 38,000 passenger miles in the spring of FY22. The Bus Priority network continues to grow, including extensions and new pilot Bus Priority Lanes in Somerville and Boston.
Regional Transit Authorities also saw a 20% jump in ridership, providing 21 million unlinked passenger trips. There were also substantial ridership increases on Massachusetts passenger rail lines, along the Knowledge Corridor – the Vermonter, Hartford Line, and Valley Flyer services – have exceeded FY19 ridership by 23%, increasing from 135,758 annual riders to 170,314 riders.
From FY22 alone Hartford Line ridership increased by 29%, and the Vermonter increased by 36%.
MassDOT and the MBTA had some successes in the areas of climate and resiliency this year. While MBTA ridership increased in FY23, the MBTA’s total GHG emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent decreased. The majority of the MBTA bus fleet is now comprised of hybrid diesel/electric buses (65%). This is in addition to the 16% buses that are powered by compress natural gas (CNG).
In FY23, as the Registry of Motor Vehicles prepared for the increase in customers expected due to Working Family Mobility Act the average number of days to get a road test (Class D) dropped from 39 days in 2022 to 25 days in 2023. There are now 289 municipalities registered for Complete Street funding.
Sincerely,
Monica Tibbits-Nutt
MassDOT Secretary & CEO
