MBTA offers $7,500 hiring bonuses as advocacy group puts out grim predictions
BOSTON - The MBTA announced Monday it is offering $7,500 hiring bonuses for certain positions.
The news came just as a local research group put out some dire predictions. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says that by 2024, the T will need about 1,800 new employees to meet its needs. Add to that another 1,000 expected to retire or leave for other jobs The group says the T would need to hire 2,800 workers to stay on track.
That's nearly three times as many as Governor Maura Healey vowed to hire in her first year.
"We need to be thinking about the problem in two or three years," said Doug Howgate, President of MTF. "I think that's really about a concerted effort to create pipeline projects with community colleges, with vocational schools."
If that doesn't happen, passengers wonder how much worse things could get. "The efficiency isn't great, and the predictability has been a roller coaster," said Jane Lucas, as she got off the train in Copley.
"But I don't think it's going to be reliable over the next ten years," said another passenger, Rosalyn Gove. "I don't think they have the money for."
The T has planned eight hiring events from April to mid-October.