All Things Travel: New State Travel Maps Available
BOSTON (CBS) – The first New England six state travel maps, developed over the past year by The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, will be available starting March 1.
Travelers will now be able to see bus, ferry and rail options in their area. Bus travel operated by private companies are expected to get a major boost in passengers.
MassDOT has helped fund new intercity buses and routes with its Busplus program in the Commonwealth.
The maps will be available in three forms: Fold-out individual maps, large wall maps at major travel stations and online.
Boston's Logan Airport and South Station are the two largest transportation centers in New England. The South Station intermodal bus and rail station is one of the only type in the United States. It is connected to Logan Airport and major highways directly from the station.
The bus terminal has over 200,000 bus departures and arrivals annually that total more than five million passengers. South Station rail attracts an average of 55,000 commuters and Amtrak riders a day
Seven private bus lines serve the growing Boston to New York corridor. The buses offer low transportation costs and wi fi on board. They are especially popular with Boston's 50,000 college students.
During the recent snowstorms and partial shutdown of the MBTA, private bus companies made over 60 buses available to transport commuters. Companies also noted an increase in daily commuters on their scheduled service.
Massport expects over 32 million passengers to use Logan Airport this year. With parking spaces scarce, scheduled bus transportation from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont is important for international flight connections.
The new transportation maps will be welcome news for international visitors coming to New England that are used to traveling by bus and rail.
Logan Airport will welcome three new carriers to Boston this spring. They are Aero Mexico, Cathay Pacific and El Al Airlines.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
