Empowering Community Driven and Environmentally Focused Solutions with TransitMatters

By Alison Lashendock

I am a recent graduate from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, where I earned a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy, focused on international business and climate policy. To say that this experience has been the adventure of a lifetime would be an absolute understatement. Through engaging lectures and conversations carried beyond the classroom, I expanded my understanding of the world – its complexities, people, and patterns – as well as my place in it. I am endlessly grateful for the many opportunities that energized, challenged, and transformed me over the last two years.

During my final semester, I worked with TransitMatters as a Clean Transit Associate, engaging with projects that evaluated and reimagined public transportation. TransitMatters is a non-profit advocacy group based in Boston which strives to advance solutions for public transit across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A main tenet of their work is using data to drive conversations about reliability, efficiency, and access. Over my 10 weeks with TransitMatters, I saw the value of blending data with personal experiences to create a holistic picture about how good public transportation can change communities – and benefit our planet.

Last year, TransitMatters released their inaugural Pokey/Schleppie Awards, which analyzed the slowest and most bunched buses in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) system. This report examined which routes needed the most improvement as well as provided solutions for a more reliable and efficient network. One of my key projects during the semester was to research and write the second volume of this report, due to be released later this summer. Building upon the first publication, I dove into analyzing new data about existing and emerging inefficiencies in the MBTA’s bus network. I learned so much about public transportation – the nuances of state and local oversight, who public transit serves, and why good transportation options are necessary for communities to thrive. I also encountered the unique nature of the advocacy space, as I saw just how much had – and hadn’t – changed since the first volume was released.

The work being done at TransitMatters also enabled me to further understand the important role that environmental justice plays in conversations about updating public transit. Good, reliable public transportation is an easy way to motivate mode shifts – that is, transitioning away from driving cars to using public transit. These mode shifts lead to less pollution, which can slow down global warming. Often, transit modernization projects are pitched as climate solutions but, at TransitMatters this past semester, I interacted with the other side of that narrative. Public transportation connects communities to opportunities, jobs, education, and the world beyond. As we seek to encourage people to switch away from cars, we cannot overlook the many riders, often in environmental justice communities, who are transit dependent and suffer the most when public infrastructure is not reliable. At TransitMatters, I saw the approach of community first, environment second. And I witnessed the power that state and local organizations have, at this moment, to push forward exciting changes that ultimately lead to a greener planet.

I am sincerely grateful to the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) for supporting this internship, as it allowed me to explore how pursuing people-focused solutions can inherently create a healthier environment. I hope to continue advancing, and advocating for, these kinds of innovative climate solutions and I look forward to what comes next!

Alison Lashendock is a recent graduate of the Fletcher School where she focused on international business and climate policy.