MBTA managers had been working remotely thousands of miles away
BOSTON - The tales of frustration over the MBTA are as old as some of the cars themselves, but in recent weeks the Healey administration has made moves in an effort to clean-up the troubled system.
A report, first published by The Boston Globe, found that multiple members of the MBTA's top brass had been working remotely hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of miles away. All during the height of the safety and service issues the MBTA faced last summer.
"Very disconcerting," said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll on Tuesday. "This is a job that needs to be on the ground and why both the governor and myself and the team have reacted in a way that I think is pretty strong. Immediately putting in place actions to require folks to either be here or frankly, in some cases, folks were terminated."
Driscoll said they were currently reviewing the MBTA's remote working policy and have already implemented changes that require certain workers to return to the state or lose their job.
"But in a position that is key, like safety or working on capital projects, we know we need people here," Driscoll said. "We are here now on day 110 doing everything we can to try and change the culture around safety and customer service. Give us a little bit of time we are going to need to really fix and right some of these wrongs."