Airport gets free bus service

Boston's Logan Airport has become the first major airport in the United States to offer free transportation to downtown in an effort to cut car travel and alleviate a parking shortage at the fourth-busiest passenger hub in the Northeast.

The three-month pilot programme beginning Wednesday will waive the US$2 fare on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Silver Line buses that take passengers from the airport to South Station in central Boston.

The airport says it has failed with various attempts to curb parking demand and wean passengers from driving to the airport.  In March, transport officials raised airport parking fees to US$27 per day while cutting fees to US$7 a day at off-site areas that provide direct bus service to the airport as part of the effort to cut car trips to Logan.  Boston is moving nearly 30m passengers annually, mainly point to point.

The experiment will be closely watched, worldwide. www.massport.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum