Federal report says understaffed MBTA prioritized long-term projects over safety, daily operations
BOSTON - Federal inspectors said the MBTA has been prioritizing long-term projects over safety and daily operations and that the agency is overworked and understaffed, according to a scathing report released Wednesday.
The 90-page report from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) comes after a two-month investigation. It issued several new special directives to the MBTA and its' safety oversight agency, the Department of Public Utilities (DPU).
The report says the MBTA is about 2,000 workers short right now.
"The T absolutely will need to staff up," FTA spokesman Paul Kincaid said in a conference call with reporters. "It is going to be an effort for the T to staff up to deliver the service the people of Massachusetts expect."
MBTA General Manager said the report shows there are at least four major projects in front of them now.
"One will be an overall comprehensive five-year workforce assessment. One will be a review of additional resources for safety data management," Poftak told reporters. "The next project will deal with embedding and strengthening the safety culture throughout the organization. And the last one deals with the formalization of operating practices and procedures."
Poftak said they're also creating a new office to address the projects.
"We are setting up a distinct organization within the MBTA that is separate from all of our other operating areas and departments that will report directly to me. It is the Quality, Compliance and Oversight office that we are setting up to address all of the major project management work that will come out of our response to these findings and the special directives that are attached to them," Poftak said.
The MBTA said Katie Choe, who has 20 years of experience in construction management and safety oversight, will lead the office.
Poftak said Governor Charlie Baker will file a supplemental budget Wednesday to bring in an extra $200 million for the T and $10 million for MassDOT.
"These funds go toward new recruitment efforts to attract and expand the transit industry workforce and to finance the new safety initiatives called for in the report," Baker said in a statement.
Poftak said they will submit their corrective action plans by their deadlines in September and October.
"My hope is that the FTA's work documenting these alarming systemic failures and their directives will create accountability and accelerate progress on these critical issues-to a system focused on safety, reliability, and access for all," Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.
However, riders are frustrated.
"I mean, it's beyond frustrating," said Stacy Thompson of the LiveableStreets Alliance. " This is a choice to prioritize a ribbon-cutting and a photo op over the kind of boring stuff that keeps thousands of people thoughout the region moving every single day safely."
The FTA investigation began in April following a series of incidents, including the death of Robinson Lalin, who was dragged while getting off a Red Line train.
Before the probe was even finished, the FTA identified four areas in June the MBTA needed to fix immediately - improve staffing at the operations control center, improve safety at train yards, catch up on overdue track maintenance and update certifications for workers.
Staffing shortages have forced the MBTA to run fewer trains on the Red, Orange and Blue lines. The agency has shut down the Orange Line until September 19 for extensive track replacement and repairs.
