Fixing the MBTA – Name & Shame Edition

I’d like to thank everyone for their great feedback on my last post (Fixing the MBTA – Diving Into Some Numbers, Talking Transportation As An Investment, Transit Around The World and Finding Cash Flow) and the great discussion it spawned.

Today, I want to focus on ratcheting up the pressure on our Legislators on Beacon Hill to fix the T, to fix it soon, and to fix it correctly. The Globe reported this morning on the Legislative duck & dodge continuing with a lot of non-committal comments from many legislators contacted for the story.

Some outside analysts have said the T’s winter woes are related, in part, to long-term underfunding by Beacon Hill. But DeLeo has strongly defended the Legislature’s actions, pointing in a recent TV interview to efforts providing “extensive additional . . . money to the T.” And both DeLeo and Baker have been forthright about their discomfort raising taxes for funding transportation or other priorities going forward — and that has essentially set the terms of discussion for what the Legislature might do.

To me, this sounds like the same song & dance routine that’s been used for decades to sideline the MBTA and allow Beacon Hill to keep kicking the can down the road. This is the time where we need boldness, political bravery and decisive action, not months or years of hand wringing. We know what’s wrong with the T. Governor Patrick had the T studied by the former CEO of John Hancock to lay out its problems. There should be few questions about what’s wrong with the T – what we need is a plan to fix it.

To that end, we need to keep up pressure on our State Legislators to fix this problem they created (Or exacerbated, depending on how you want to look at it). The culpability of the Legislature in this is very clear.

If you look at how many members of the Legislature represent towns served by the MBTA subway system alone (Not Commuter Rail or Ferry), these cities & towns represent 23% of the House and 28% of the Senate (and the numbers are way higher once we add in the Commuter Rail). And where have these members been in the news? I’ve contacted my Rep and my Senator on numerous occasions and have heard back nothing. We need to make our voices heard! These members should demand action from House Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Rosenberg. (DeLeo, BTW represents Revere – directly served by the MBTA Blue Line – and Winthrop, where undoubtedly many members of the community depend on the T to get to work in Boston).

As Somerville Mayor has said: “If we won’t make the necessary investments to keep our economic center viable, then why should the private sector invest its money?”

I urge you to contact your Legislators and let them know we need to fix the T TODAY.

You can find your Legislators on the MA Legislature website or from Open States.

This list represents those Legislators who cover the towns & cities served by the MBTA subway (Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Malden, Milton, Newton, Quincy, Revere & Somerville). If your Leg isn’t on this list, look them up!

I also encourage EVERYONE to attend their local Commonwealth Conversations meeting that is being held by the Senate leadership. The meetings for Western & Central Mass have already happened, but the rest of the state will have their meetings over the next few weeks:

Please share widely!

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