The city of Boston is planning major changes for its transportation department, including increased parking fines, the creation of a transit team to coordinate with the MBTA, and new investments in biking, walking, and bus infrastructure. The goal is to improve the overall transportation system, and find some solutions to one of the city’s most perplexing problems: its ever-worsening traffic. Much of the expansion will be overseen by Boston Transportation Commissioner Gina Fiandaca. She spent two decades in the city’s parking department before being appointed commissioner by Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh in 2015. Fiandaca, whose sister is WBZ-TV reporter Cheryl Fiandaca, says Boston is facing plenty of transportation challenges, but she sees an “opportunity” to solve them.
1. When she meets new people around Boston, her job title tends to get them talking.
“It’s a great conversation starter, I can tell you that. It’s all very personal and most folks have a very personal story to tell you about their parking experience or their travel experience in the city. People are very, very engaged in transportation.”
2. She’s hesitant to talk much about possible policy changes being pushed by transit advocates. New bus lanes on city streets? “We’re definitely taking a look at where the high demand is.” More changes to parking meters, after testing higher prices in the Seaport and Back Bay? The city will be “releasing a report.” How about charging for residential parking permits, an idea gaining traction in the city council? “We’ll be taking a look at parking policies.” But she speaks more definitively about the idea of tolling cars coming into the city — she’s not quite on board with it.
“We need to address some of the deficiencies in our transportation network first.”
3. She drives some days and rides the Blue Line others, but her preferred transportation method is moving by foot, quickly, for miles at a time. She’s planning to run in the Boston Marathon on Monday, which would be her 16th Boston run, and her 41st marathon overall. She’s also run a handful of ultra-marathons, which span 50 miles.
“I probably put more miles on my sneakers than I do my car. It’s the first thing I do when I go somewhere else. It’s a great way to see any city. A lot of times folks say they’ll like a sign at a crosswalk or another roadway enhancement. So sometimes I’ll put on my running shoes and go check out the location.”
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4. City parking officials try to show some leniency to drivers who get tickets, depending on the circumstances.
“On the parking side of the house, there have been some really interesting pleas from folks to have parking tickets dismissed. They can be quite creative. In one case, an individual wrote into us that he got a parking ticket while he was delivering soup for his sick girlfriend. He went into great detail about how he stopped the car, ran up to give her the soup, came back down, ran to get her flowers. It was such a touching story. I’m not sure how it all worked out.”
5. Fiandaca has never used a space saver to reserve a spot for her car on the street after a snowstorm. But her reason for not putting lawn chairs or other objects by the curb is practical rather than philosophical.
“I have a driveway.”
Adam Vaccaro can be reached at adam.vaccaro@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamtvaccaro.