TransAction Associates is Creating Commuter Sustainability for Burlington Workers

A new option in more sustainable commuting is now available for Burlington businesses thanks to a grant by Healey-Driscoll Administration to assist Transportation Management Associations (TMAs). TMAs are non-profit membership-based organizations that provide shuttle services to improve transportation options in a specific region or community.

The goal is to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and expand mobility.

One group that’s benefitting from the grant is TransAction Associates and TransAction Corporate Shuttle Services in Woburn. Senior Program Manager Julie Quinn is working with the Middlesex 3 Coalition, which received a little over $300,000 of $3 million in TMA grants. TransAction works with companies to provide transportation to and from the workplace while getting cars off the road and contributing to environmental sustainability.

“I help put shuttles on the road and have some clients that I work with for commuter services and incentivize them to not drive alone,” said Quinn.

“You’re getting a lot of life science coming up to the Burlington area. Cambridge was always a life sciences center. Life sciences is moving out to the suburbs because there’s more space, and all of a sudden the people don’t have cars, they don’t have a way to get out here. So we’re working to try and help the businesses that come out here get their employees transportation.”

The solution is not cheap: It requires drivers, insurance and gas. TransAction is working to partner companies together to share costs, as the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce highlights in an article.

“In doing that we reached out to the state to see if they could help along the way as well, to get it kicked off and get going. Because companies don’t have an extra four or five thousands dollars a month to put toward transportation,” explained Quinn.

Quinn has two shuttle programs with TransAction that start at the Marino Recreation Center at Northeastern University, coming up to the Burlington Northeastern campus, going out to six different co-op locations and returning to Boston at the end of the day.

“That’s six stops. We would like to expand that because there are sixty companies in Burlington that offer co-op to Northeastern students alone,” Quinn continued. “There is more of a need right now, we had to start off small so with this money from the grant we can grow it, we can put more shuttles on the road, we can expand the stops”.

Blue Sky Drive and North Ave. in Burlington are popular destinations with companies looking for shuttle stops to get their employees or clients up from the Cambridge area.

“We’re working with Nordblom because they have a lot of tenants in the Blue Sky Drive area. We’re working with The District because the Charles River Development has a lot of Northeastern students,” she said.

TransAction is looking to launch a shuttle from the Alewife MBTA station to the Burlington area sometime by the end of the year.

“It’s getting extra cars off the road, it’s getting people stress-free to their jobs. They’re not sitting in traffic, they can be productive on the way. All our shuttles have wifi on them. The employers are getting better talent because they can offer transportation. It’s kind of a win-win for everybody,” Quinn said.

Article via BCAT TV