 traffic in Boston. Words many Massachusetts residents are all too familiar with. Boston is the fifth worst metropolitan area in the country for traffic congestion and Lizzie Wyant, the advocacy director for transportation for Massachusetts, believes too many people are driving to the city. You know I think particularly in a metropolitan area like Boston, there's a lot of density, just a lot of people living in a relatively small area. The more people that have a car and they get on the roads, the more likely there is to be more traffic. In fact in Massachusetts, the average driver waste about 40 hours a year just sitting in traffic. That's an entire work week a year just sitting in your car. Transportation for Massachusetts advocates for increased investments to clean up traffic congestion. In a report published earlier this month Texas A&M Transportation Institute found that an average Boston area driver spends eleven hundred dollars a year while stuck in traffic. Some local residents blame incompetent drivers for traffic. Literally people don't know how to merge. They don't know where to like when to move over and like even when they see a sign that says merge right, they wait until the last second to go. The wasted time spent in traffic is compounded by the increase in fuel costs as gas prices rose by 18 cents from February 1st until February 18th. Despite the influx of fuel-efficient vehicles, Wyant is still committed to improving public transportation. You know I think when public transportation becomes an attractive transportation choice, more people are likely to get out of their cars and actually take the public transportation options that are available to them. So I think electric vehicles are great and fuel-efficient vehicles are actually great. They have a strong environmental benefit particularly for people who need to drive. But for people who don't need to drive, public transportation needs to be the best alternative. Some residents though, especially those who live reasonably close to Boston are less concerned about public transportation. From my perspective, I'd like to see more efforts made to improve cycling, bicycle accessibility, making it more of a cycling-friendly city. I know that mayor has been a proponent of that and I think that concerted efforts need to be further in that regard. I don't view the T as being a viable alternative. I know from speaking with others that again during rush hour it's very difficult to get on the T and off the T and again I think cycling is probably your best alternative at this point. The MBTA raised both their bus and train fares on July 1st, 2012. Further raising concerns about fewer people using the T. So do you foresee then a time in the near future where you think the T is going to, though both the metro and bus system is going to be a more beneficial experience to commuters than driving in the cars? Yeah, you know the T is the most underfunded public transportation system in the country and it carries the highest debt load. We need to be investing in our public transportation system so that it can really meet the needs of the people in Massachusetts. That's the thing that's going to get people out of their cars when they feel like the T is reliable and safe, clean and accessible. And we need to do that here in Boston and all over the Commonwealth. Governor Deval Patrick said last weekend's blizzard exposed some of the major flaws in the MBTA as the electrical system is becoming outdated. The city of Boston has major challenges going forward as it attempts to improve public transportation and reduce traffic congestion. How can you expect commuters to avoid driving when MBTA fares are increasing and service is declining? These questions need to be answered. Otherwise, people will continue to waste time and money in traffic. For BUTV 10, I'm Sandeep Chandrasekhar.