Charlie Baker on Technology

$18 billion transportation bond bill, the largest ever

Ban hand-held cellphone use while driving

"Operators driving a car should not be holding a phone to text, check social media or email," Baker said moments after signing the bill. "When a driver on an electronic device hits something or someone, that's not an accident, it's a crash that was avoidable."

Over $8 billion on infrastructure for the T

This will be no small task. One of the reasons previous administrations didn't invest in the core system is the complexity of upgrading and modernizing a system that operates 20 hours a day, seven days a week. But it's a challenge that must be identified, scoped and overcome.

The T also needs to leverage its automated fare system once it's in place in 2020. For the first time, that system will give the T real time data on how its riders use the system. That creates huge opportunities to improve service. To think differently about fares, routes and pricing. And to modernize operations to better serve customers.

My job is to make sure the T works, not to ride it

Baker, who is driven from event to event by his State Police detail and has previously declined to participate in the T-riding challenge, doubled down on his decision: "The governor is not a point-to-point person. It's very rare that I go from one place to the same place more than once, and that makes it extremely hard to think about how to factor that in," Baker said. "And frankly, I really do believe that my job is to make sure that we make the T work for the people who need it to work. Period."

Hundreds of millions to fix decades of neglect on the MBTA

Our public transportation system collapsed during the brutal winter of 2015. But three years later the T is investing hundreds of millions of dollars more on upgrading its core infrastructure than it has in years, modernizing its operations and rescuing projects like the Green Line Extension.

There is more to do on the T. Much more. But for the first time in years the plan to modernize the system is in place and moving forward. Fixing decades of neglect doesn't happen overnight. But make no mistake we will deliver the public transit system the people of this Commonwealth deserve.

High speed wifi in Western Massachusetts

Lynn ferry service wasn't worth the $700,000 operating cost

The ferry from the Blossom Street Ferry Terminal in Lynn to Boston's Seaport operated a pilot program in 2014 and 2015. But the service was decommissioned last summer by the Baker administration, which argued it didn't generate enough riders to justify the $700,000 in state funds annually to operate it.

Last Mile program: high-speed internet for rural communities

We started with 53 towns lacking high speed internet access. And while there's still more work to be done, in just six months we've moved a dozen towns forward.