Baker Panel Finds 'Pervasive Failure' In MBTA
BOSTON (CBS/AP) — A panel created by Gov. Charlie Baker to examine the MBTA ripped the transit agency, saying it's in severe financial distress, has ineffective management and no viable maintenance and repair plan for vehicles and equipment.
The report released Wednesday was commissioned after several severe winter storms crippled the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's subway and commuter rail lines.
Read: The MBTA Report (.pdf)
At a news conference Wednesday, Baker said the T is "inefficient" with costs too high and performance too low.
The co-chair of the panel, Katie Lapp, a former Executive Director and CEO for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told reporters there is "pervasive failure" in the system.
She added that nothing short of bold action is needed and this new report is a blueprint for that.
RECOMMENDATIONS
While stopping short of recommending more drastic scenarios such as placing the T in receivership or abolishing the agency altogether and forming a new one to operate public transit, the panel called for the creation of a control board that would provide oversight and management support for the next three to five years.
If authorized by the Legislature, a five-member "Fiscal and Management Control Board," would replace the current MassDOT Board with three members appointed by the Governor and one each nominated by the Speaker of the House and the Senate President.
The Legislature should also review the T's collective bargaining process with its labor unions, which have stood in the way of reforms, the report said.
The panel noted that the MBTA is the only public union with binding arbitration settlements that are not subject to approval.
FINDINGS
Listing its key findings, the panel said the MBTA has an unsustainable operating budget, chronic capital underinvestment and it struggles to get projects completed.
The 50-page report also claimed the agency is "ineffective at managing work due to weak workplace practices and chronic absenteeism."
Tens of thousands of bus trips are canceled each year due to unplanned absences, and 15 percent of all T employees took at least one sick day as the system was attempting to recover from the record-setting snowstorms, the study found.
The panel also criticized MassDOT and the T for not having a "long-range expansion strategy."
The commission found the MBTA is "hampered by frequent leadership changes, vacancies, and looming attrition" and "is not organized to operate as a customer-oriented business."
The report calls for a series of major changes including higher fares for riders and a plan to reduce high absenteeism among employees of the agency.
Fares paid by MBTA riders are "significantly lower" than those of other similarly-sized U.S. transit systems, and fares cover only 39 percent of the system's operating expenses, not including debt service, the report said.
The commission also suggests that the state consider assuming debt for $1.8 billion in transit projects that were built in conjunction with the Big Dig.
The panel met 18 times over six weeks.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Bernice Corpuz reports
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