CommuteCon 2020

This session will present the model that 13 TMAs in the Greater Boston area have adopted to collaborate on areawide programming and service delivery including a joint RideAmigos platform and areawide marketing events. Talk will include:
A brief overview of the transportation environment in Massachusetts
Discussion of TMA funding models and the loss of DOT funding
A review of TMAs in MA and the formation of a non-profit assn for TMAs known as Masscommute
A look at the TMAs joint services
Discussion of the pros and cons and general Q&A

About the Speaker:
Allison Simmons is a principal with NorthEase, a consulting firm based in Boston that specializes in sustainable transportation services for non-profits, companies, and municipalities. Ms. Simmons has been in the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) industry since 1994. With a background in marketing and communications she specializes in creating innovative programs and campaigns to create behavior change. Over the past twenty years she has worked for several Boston TMAs including MASCO’s Commute Works which serves the Longwood Medical Area and A Better City TMA. In 1996, Ms. Simmons was the founding director of the Artery Business Committee TMA, the largest TMA in the Commonwealth formed as a mitigation measure for Boston’s Big Dig. Since, Ms. Simmons formed Ease Consult in 2012, she has launched three new TMAs in Massachusetts and one in Memphis, TN. Current Ease Consult clients include A Better City, Assembly Connect, the City of Everett and Boston University Medical Center. In addition to her work at Ease Consult, Allison is actively involved with local and national organizations including the Association for Commuter Transportation. In 2019 she was appointed as President of the national Center for TDM, which seeks to shape and advance transportation demand management to improve our nation’s mobility. She loves to travel and is a proud mother of two.