Tim Lawrence
Board President
Rides: Orange Line | 104 & 109 Bus
I’m a Metro Boston native who has been riding and always fascinated by the T/public transit since I was old enough to remember. With background in architecture & urban design, I approach transportation policy advocacy from a similar perspective of building interpersonal relationships and utilizing various visual communication strategies. On top of my AEC industry day job in the private sector, I’m a freelance graphic designer and have managed TransitMatters’ graphic design & communications outreach efforts since 2017. Distilling our often highly-technical information into visually pleasing, easily comprehensible graphics, documents and web pages has become a true passion of mine. As Communications Director, I also manage our outgoing communications strategy to the public and media.
While I’ve touched every one of our initiatives, I have been particularly passionate about NightBus as well as Regional Rail, having designed & coordinated a number of communications for both, including our groundbreaking Winter 2018 Regional Rail Report. As TransitMatters begins its next chapter, I have also been involved with coordinating our overall organization strategy as VP of Operations and assist our COO/DD in his efforts.
Jennifer Raitt
Immediate Past President
Rides: Green Line | 66
I am an urban planner who has built a career that includes work for government and nonprofit organizations. I aim to create and sustain equitable places and build organizational capacity to make change possible. I am currently executive director of the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, a regional planning agency and metropolitan planning organization based in Lowell.
I also work with regional, state, and national groups on municipal, planning, and housing issues. I am a member of the Brookline Housing Advisory Board, Brookline Community Preservation Committee, and Massachusetts Municipal Association Municipal and Regional Administration Policy Committee. I am a Climate Reality Leader with the Climate Reality Project.
I have served the American Planning Association since 2004. I am currently on the National Legislative and Policy Steering Committee and am the State Chapter Legislative and Policy Officer. As co-chair of national cross-sector task forces, I developed Policy Guides for the American Planning Association on housing and aging in community and developed campaigns to encourage communities to address housing affordability and availability through improved local planning. I served as an expert panelist for a Congressional Subcommittee on Transportation Housing and Urban Development hearing providing testimony on building climate resilience into federal funding programs.
Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Washington D.C. amplified my awareness of transit access and equity issues, as well as the long-term impact of transformative transit investments. My professional and personal experiences are incorporated into frequent lectures, trainings, and presentations. My affordable housing, fair housing, municipal collaboration, and transportation work has been awarded and recognized by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), American Planning Association, Massachusetts Municipal Association, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Women's Transportation Seminar, and local and regional jurisdictions.
Josh Fairchild
Co-Founder | Board Member
Rides: Orange Line | Needham Line | 35 & 51 Bus
I am a transit enthusiast who works as a lawyer in commercial real estate. I tend to think about transit issues from a politics and policy perspective.
I have always been interested in smart infrastructure policy and after moving to Boston and becoming a daily T rider, I became fascinated with the complex problem of how effective transit can facilitate successful urban places and fuel our economy while being ignored by politicians and vilified by our fellow residents. I hope that Transit Matters can provide the general public with information to effectively advocate for a better transit system.
I spend much of my free time keeping up with transit and urban development news, trends, and planning. Other times you can find me dragging along my family as to explore the many great neighborhoods, squares, and parks in and around Boston. When I travel, I am a nut for exploring other transit systems while learning about the local history. I have lived, worked, or played in 43 of the 50 United States. Also I love our National Parks!
Jim Aloisi
Rides: Red & Blue Line | SL3
I’m a Boston-based strategic consultant, passionate about Sustainable Mobility and the importance of bringing innovation to how we think about, fund and deploy our transportation system. I am also passionate about writing - I’ve written three books (working on a fourth), most recently The Vidal Lecture, and I am a regular contributor to Commonwealth Magazine.
The pathway to my current advocacy began in a triple-decker in East Boston, where I could see first hand the many ways that bad and insensitive transportation planning can wreak havoc on a thriving neighborhood. That pathway led first to a career in the law, serving clients as both a public sector lawyer and a partner at the Boston law firms Hill & Barlow and Goulston & Storrs, where I built a highly regarded Public Law & Policy practice. Along the way, I found myself called upon to serve as a central figure in the establishment of Boston’s Metropolitan Highway System and the creation of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. I also served as a member of the Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission.
During my tenure as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation in the Administration of Governor Deval Patrick, I led a landmark transportation restructuring initiative and made a strong effort to secure new revenue to fund our transportation needs. I adopted a policy protocol that explicitly tied transportation decisions and spending to (i) economic growth & development, (ii) regional equity, (iii) social justice, (iv) environmental sustainability, and (v) innovation. I also directed that the MBTA issue its data free of charge, thus enabling private sector entrepreneurs to develop a variety of web-based and mobile applications to help improve the daily commute.
I understand how important the MBTA is to our Sustainable Mobility future. I’m committed to working with others to find common ground and effective solutions to the barriers that exist to having a 21st century public transportation system in place. I have seen first-rate transit systems in places like Bogota, Barcelona and Amsterdam, and our own Portland Oregon. There’s no reason why Greater Boston can’t join these places and offer its residents an egalitarian public transportation system that we all can be proud of. It just takes persistence, commitment, vision and leadership.
Chris Friend
Finance Director
Rides: Red, Blue, & Green Line
I fell into transit advocacy after one too many slow Red Line trips over the Longfellow Bridge. I'm interested in bringing data to support the lived experience of transit users throughout the Boston area. I focus on different data initiatives to empower TransitMatters and riders to more effectively advocate for better transit.
Liz Haney
Development Committee Chair
Rides: Red Line | Greenbush & Fitchburg Lines
I'm a transit enthusiast who in my professional life has worked in affordable housing, nonprofits and technology, as well as the intersection of the three for my career. At Transit Matters I'm a co-chair of the development committee.
I've been enthusiastic about transit ever since I can remember. Even though I grew up in Central MA, my mom and I used to journey into Downtown Boston after being dropped off at the forsaken end of the B Line when we'd catch a ride into Boston with my dad. In high school, the Fitchburg Line was our ticket to another world, to adventure, to freedom. When I did the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in the Cascade Mountains I used the regional transit bus to commute for an hour and a half--traveling from my Central WA city through industrial scale apple orchards into snow capped peaks of a tourist focused, Christmas themed town. My understanding of the importance of transit evolved in each of these experiences, from transit as unlocking adventure to transit as a key to survival, for access, to get to work or to get to help--something I learned myself but also saw through the experiences of the clients we worked with at my nonprofit. Through years of work with community land trusts across the country, I also understand how the uneven availability of adequate transit affects our housing markets. As new areas gain transit service, communities see their housing market evolve to be marketable to higher income, supposedly more desirable renters, tenants and buyers. I keep both these understandings at the center of my work at Transit Matters and in my other work with Somerville Community Land Trust. I have written about transit oriented development zoning and equity strategies for MassINC, as well as equitable commuter rail fare policies. I have also worked as a project manager on several affordable TOD developments along the Fairmount Line and dabble in graphic design as a tool to show the life altering potential of having a functioning transit system.
Ari Ofsevit
Board Member
Rides: Red Line | Fitchburg Line | 1, 47, & 70 Bus
I am a runner, bicyclist, skier, podcaster and transit advocate and in my spare time, a graduate student in urban planning and transportation engineering at MIT. I spend my time on the streets of Boston and Cambridge, and trails of New England and further abroad. I've worked extensively with advocacy organizations in the region like TransitMatters and LivableStreets to bring change and equity to transportation and development projects, such as building support for a bus lane in Charlestown and a people-centered redevelopment in Allston. I am particularly interested in how small changes and data analysis can set the groundwork for long-term results, especially when it comes to strategically-implemented transit priority and transit operations, from bus and subway dispatching to Regional Rail. I live on a block between the 47 and 64 buses and would ride them more if they were both more frequent and less sardine-crowded at rush hour (which, it turns out, are related issues).
Tarang Shah
Vice President
Rides: Red Line | Worcester Line
Hello! I joined TransitMatters in 2021, graduated from WPI in 2022 and now work in a transportation firm in downtown Boston. Living in India and as a student in Worcester has given me an appreciation for thoughtful planning and an eye for underserved communities. By advocating for regional rail, I aim to support resilient communities and vibrant public spaces. My favorite city streets feature museums, libraries, and forested parks. Outside of work and TransitMatters I can be found learning to cook new kinds of dishes and playing old board games, unless I am off exploring a remote corner of the world.
Caitlin Allen-Connelly
Secretary
Rides: Green Line | Framingham/Worcester Line
A Boston native, I relied on the MBTA to get around growing up, and I continue to live a car-free life whenever possible. I understand the vital role public transportation plays to the people of Greater Boston, the regional economy, and the environment. During the day, I lead research and advocacy to support safe, reliable, and affordable public transportation, as well as broader transportation policy issues including decarbonization, project delivery, and project financing. In this role, I get to collaborate with TransitMatters (TM) on several important issues, including electrification of the MBTA Commuter Rail to transform the way the Commonwealth delivers and residents use regional rail. I am a huge fan of the TM data lab and use the dashboards all the time to inform my work. I come to the transportation sector from a climate change, sustainable development, and basic needs security background, and I firmly believe that getting transportation and transportation policies right can positively impact outcomes across all three areas. The mother of two wonderful human beings, I am committed to doing my part to make their world a better, safer, more equitable place.
Anna Vanderspek
Rides: Red & Orange Line | 1 Bus
BOARD MEMBER
Rides: Red & Orange Line | 1 Bus
I come to Transit Matters from the climate change and energy policy world in Massachusetts, where my work focuses on clean transportation, specifically vehicle electrification. Here in the Bay State, we are lucky enough to have laws on the books that require economy-wide greenhouse gas reductions and to meet those requirements, I know we need a robust, reliable, and accessible transit system. I also know that a strong transit system means less air pollution that harms human health and more access to opportunity for people across the Commonwealth. I’m excited to join Transit Matters to keep pushing for all of these things.
More personally, I grew up with transit. My parents, when looking for a home in the early 90s, drew circles around MBTA bus stops on a map and only looked within the circles. As a kid, I thought all transit systems were called “the T”; as a teen, I relied on the T to get me to the wonders of the city (specifically, Anna’s Taqueria and long-gone Kotobukiya in Porter Square). Nowadays, I live in Cambridge without a car and rely on walking, biking, bus, and train to get me where I need to go. I’d love to see faster and more frequent, comfortable, reliable, and electrified transit service, both within Greater Boston and connecting the rest of the state.