COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
GREENDOT OFFICE
GreenDOT Advisory Group
Meeting Notes
June 10, 2014
10 Park Plaza, 2nd Floor Transportation Library, Boston, MA
Welcome and Introductions
Ned Codd – Assistant Secretary for GreenDOT
 Safety briefing
 Around the table introductions
Ned Codd – Updates on GreenDOT
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Working groups to be formed (to be discussed later)
MassDOT division updates on the GreenDOT Implementation Plan
o Methods for tracking/measuring metrics and communicating progress to all
stakeholders (including general public)
o Use existing data as much as possible to help track GHG emissions, mode shift,
environmental impact, etc.
o Report at end of 2014 on GreenDOT progress
o Staff for GreenDOT Office
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Katie Servis – MassDOT Aeronautics Division
o Aeronautics does not own any of the 36 state airports, work with airports in oversight
and resource capacity
o Major GreenDOT initiative: Carbon-neutral airport project
 Volpe Center – offered technical assistance to the Aeronautics Division on
energy efficiency, renewable energy initiatives
 First ever carbon neutral airport in US
 Two phases – pick the airport and consultant, follow through with pilot
 Nantucket chosen airport
 How can it meet carbon neutrality?
 Chosen because they had previously implemented sustainable initiatives
 Honeywell chosen consultants
 Phase 2 – looking at over 25 potential green measures to be considered
 Ranging from low-hanging fruit to larger green projects
 June 27th kick-off ceremony
 Really a learning experience: what went wrong, what worked, how to
expand it to other MA airports
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All-Electronic Tolling (AET) – Tobin Bridge pilot project
o All electronic tolling test phase to be initiated in July 2014
o Toll booths will be eliminated
o Gantries will read on each vehicles transponder
o If a car doesn’t have a transponder then a bill will be sent in the mail to the address
associated with the license plate number
o Will help to reduce GHG emissions, allow better flow of traffic and a decrease in
congestion
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Highway Division’s Go-Time real-time, traffic messaging
o Tells travelers distance and time at certain locations based on Bluetooth technology
o Can provide information on travel alternatives for travelers if route is congested, e.g. a
parallel transit option
Comments
 Wendy Landman, WalkBoston – Need to also tell the travelers how long the train
trip will be. This would be more effective; more information needs to be added to
the messaging boards. Issue is having the data available for developers to then
create apps.
 Vineet Gupta, City of Boston – Technology is heading in the direction that whether
it’s signs or apps, travelers will be informed not only of traffic conditions but also
parking information. Boston has implemented a pilot program with 350 inpavement parking sensors in South Boston that provide real-time on-street parking
information.
 Wendy Landman, WalkBoston – Pay-on-foot should be implemented at all MBTA
garages.
 Susanne Rasmussen, City of Cambridge – This would help at the Alewife Garage,
where exiting circulation is highly congested.
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Electrification of Vehicle Fleets
o Number of EVs on the road is increasing, and has the potential to grow rapidly
o Public sector has a role to play in ensuring that the fueling infrastructure, battery
charging infrastructure, etc. is established in order to support the rapidly growing
market
o Massachusetts is a member of an eight-state consortium that signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) in October 2013 with a target of getting 3.3 million
o MassDOT is working with partners in state government to identify ways to support
growth of the electric vehicle (EV) and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) market
o Worcester Regional Transit Authority has purchased six ProTerra all-electric buses, and
has installed a fast-charging station at its depot
o There are currently approximately 3,000 EVs on the road across the state
o Range anxiety is one the biggest issues with EVs
o Dealers do not currently have incentives for selling EVs, which are largely unfamiliar to
dealers
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Comments
o Tim Lasker, MBTA – The MBTA is looking at opportunities for improving the fuel
efficiency and carbon content of bus fuel sources
 Given current conditions, diesel is the most convenient, easiest, most desirable
fuel from a cost-effectiveness and efficiency perspective
 The MBTA is working to make sure our bus fleet purchases are putting cleaner,
more efficient buses on the road, but this is easier said than done
 50+ buses will be diesel-electric hybrids
 Mileage, strain, etc. must be considered when determining vehicle
specifications and potential fuel type
 MBTA working with a company to test hydrogen fuel cell technology for buses
 The MBTA doesn’t have enough resources to completely convert the entire fleet
in the short term
o Eric Friedman, Leading by Example
 DOER can help make available recent studies for viewing related to EVs
 DOER has made available grant funding and other funding sources (through the
Massachusetts Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, or MassEVIP) to help
municipalities and state agencies install charging stations across the state
 DOER has also launched the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles
(MOR-EV) program, which provides cash rebates of $1,500 to $2,500 to
consumers who purchase electric vehicles
o Vineet Gupta, BTD
 City of Boston has taken advantage of these funding sources to install charging
stations across the city in various parking garages
 Boston asks private developers to ensure that 5% of all parking spots have
installed charging stations
o Sonia Hamel – New England and Mid-Atlantic states came together - brainstormed was
to improve incentives for dealers
o Tim Lasker, MBTA – The MBTA carefully reviewed the GreenDOT Implementation Plan
and has provided information on implementation status and challenges
 Of the several hundred indicators that apply to the MBTA, many of them already
in place and started before GreenDOT was created, many others have been
initiated since the launch of GreenDOT
 Many projects in progress currently; many deal with sustainability initiatives
across the MBTA – energy, water, electricity, recycling, manpower, lighting
 For example, the MBTA is strongly encouraging bike commuting – bicycle
enclosures at MBTA stations are accessible with Charlie card
o David Watson, MassBike – What about bicycle access on MBTA trains during peak
commuting hours, as discussed in the GreenDOT Implementation Plan? There were
recently 540 bikes parked at Alewife Station.
 Tim Lasker, MBTA – There are capacity and crowding issues with MBTA rapid
transit lines, especially and most importantly during peak hours, and the MBTA
has determined that it would be counter-productive to pursue that proposal
 Ned Codd – It’s important to understand that the GreenDOT Implementation
Plan includes some tasks that may in fact turn out to be infeasible or
undesirable. The Implementation Plan is an important guidance document, but
it must be pursued with consideration of available resources, relative priority of
the tasks, and an understanding of what efforts will provide higher benefit for
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June 10, 2014
the resources invested– including financial and staff resources. In terms of
bicycles on the MBTA rapid transit system, it would not be desirable to allow
bikes when they might reduce the MBTA’s ability to fit passengers who are
waiting on the platform. It’s also helpful to think about the issues more broadly
and systemically: the MBTA applied for and won a $3 million federal “bus
livability” grant that provided half of Hubway’s startup capital in order to enable
this kind of transit – bus trip linkages, and reduce the need to bring bikes on the
rapid transit system.
Susanne Rasmussen, City of Cambridge – In Copenhagen, trains have seats that can be
flipped up, with rubber rings to hold bikes, which allows to increase space for bikes
when needed
David Straus, ABC TMA – Study happening now with MIT professor to look at the
technology of improved fare options and fare media consolidation
Wendy Landman, WalkBoston – MassDOT is working on safety initiatives, including one
led by Bonnie Polin that is focused on working with municipalities on walking and
bicycling education and enforcement, as well as a study led by Eric Scheier on making
bus stops safer, and extending the safety zone further out
Sonia Hamel, State Smart Transportation Initiative – SSTI Review of GreenDOT
 SSTI is a consortium of state DOTs that focuses on best practices, research, and technology
transfer
 SSTI has 20 states currently involved, with close involvement by agency heads
 SSTI conducted a review of the GreenDOT Policy and issued findings and recommendations
 Several of the major issues that SSTI identified have already been mentioned
o Prioritization is one of the biggest issues with GreenDOT
o Assignment of a task versus authority to implement a task
o Opportunity for other states to see what’s happening with GreenDOT in MA
 Employees’ perspectives towards their jobs are changing – some resistant but many are starting
to integrate GreenDOT goals into everyday job tasks
 Everything in GreenDOT should be rolled into one action plan as opposed to having it spread
across the separate Divisions– this will make it easier to organize and track
 Establishing a GreenDOT leader/head and advisory group
 Inconsistency in terms of internal functions but also how users perceive and understand
transportation options
 It is important to have an effective way to measure the tasks
 Some tasks “bigger bang for your buck”, others on a smaller scale
 Major findings, opportunities, and recommendations
o Progress toward the Mode Shift Goal is a key indicator of progress on the GreenDOT
Policy
o Aligning budget strategies for a project, etc. with GreenDOT implementation
o There are new data opportunities through aggregating parking behavior, speeds,
routing, etc. using new technology and “Big Data” analytical tools to better inform
GreenDOT implementation
o Sustainability should be better integrated into the contracting process
o Auto metrics should encompass access and reliability, not just speed
o System reliability should be considered across all modes, not just auto
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Making sure everyone at MassDOT is involved in the further development and
implementation of GreenDOT
Overall finding that the GreenDOT Policy is groundbreaking, especially relative to what’s out
there among other state DOTs, even though there is more work to be done
Transportation is the sector with the farthest to go for meeting the GWSA targets – needs a lot
of work to meet those GHG reductions
Wendy Landman, WalkBoston – There is still a major gap between GreenDOT and project
selection processes
Ned Codd – That is something that MassDOT is looking to address through the Project Selection
Advisory Council process, as well as further integration of GreenDOT principles into the MPO
process and other improvements to project prioritization.
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