Keller @ Large: Assessing a terrible month for the T
BOSTON - It's been a terrible month for the MBTA. Along with numerous delays and infrastructure problems, there was the discovery that track defects on the multi-billion dollar Green Line Extension project were known to MBTA leadership and not revealed to the public.
WBZ TV political analyst Jon Keller's guest this week is Brian Kane, a former MBTA official who is now the executive director of the MBTA advisory board. Kane said everyone was surprised to learn the Green Line Extension was built with defective rails.
"I think we were all surprised to learn that this brand new line that had been bought for and paid for, a great expense by billions of dollars wasn't working as promised," said Kane. He compared the news to buying a home and having a contractor build an addition, only for the homeowner to learn something wasn't right in the addition a few months later. Kane said the big question is why the line was opened despite the MBTA knowing there was defects.
Last fall, the MBTA advisory board released a report about safety issues on the T with suggestions on how to make improvements. One suggestion was to move the state safety oversight function to a different entity or create a new one completely. Kane said legislation has been filed and passed through the transportation committee and is currently waiting for full debate on the House and Senate floor. He added the advisory board supports it, saying it's already worked well in New York and Washington, DC.
"The legislature moves at its own pace and there is, I think, some urgency that they really need to get moving on this," said Kane.
When asked why ridership on the Blue Line fell short of projections during the Sumner Tunnel closure when the line was free, Kane said people need public transportation to be safe, reliable and frequent, saying cost isn't the main factor.
Part 2: MBTA finances and ridership
In part 2, Keller and Kane discuss MBTA ridership and finances, including whether sees a potential fare increase for riders in the future.
