Mayor Martin J. Walsh plans to roll out a set of transportation initiatives Thursday, including proposals to lower speed limits in neighborhoods to 20 miles per hour and create designated pickup and drop-off sites in certain areas for ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft.

At his annual speech for the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, Walsh also is slated to announce that he has appointed a transit team to collaborate with the MBTA on issues such as quickening the bus system. And, he’ll say the city will offer free MBTA passes to all middle and high school students, regardless of the distance to their schools — an increase from roughly 20,000 to more than 30,000 passes, at a cost of several million dollars.


The mayor’s focus on transportation in one of his most high-profile speeches of the year demonstrates the importance of a spiraling transportation crisis that has left some streets and neighborhoods in virtual gridlock, amid frustrating delays in the regional public transit system.