Out-of-Control Administrative Staffing Budget Increases at the MBTA

With talk of fare hikes and ongoing performance problems, Pioneer has released a timely new report on the MBTA’s skyrocketing administrative costs:

In Data Reveals Out of Control Administrative Staffing Budget Increases at MBTA, authors Greg Sullivan, Research Director, and Michael Weiner, Research Assistant, both at Pioneer Institute, analyze data from the National Transit Database (NTD) to show that the T far exceeds peer agencies in terms of expenditures on administrative personnel over the past several years.

Some key findings:

• The T’s general administration employee count increased by more than 79% between FY08-14, from 279 to 481
• The T’s budget (including salaries and fringe benefits) increased by 120.5% ($27 million to more than $60 million in 6 years
• Over the same time period, one of the T’s peer agencies, SEPTA, actually lowered its GA personnel budget

As this new brief shows, the T’s spending is out of control at the agency’s highest level.

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• The Pacheco Law has cost the MBTA more than $450 million – here’s the evidence.
• MBTA Reform – The Case of Full, Final and Binding Interest Arbitration
• Testimony Before the Joint Committee on Transportation in Support of House 3347 – Greg Sullivan
• Testimony in Support of House 3347 Transportation Reform by Charles Chieppo
• Guess Who Runs the Best Paratransit System in the MBTA’s District? Hint: It’s Not the T
• MBTA is the Fastest Expanding Transit System
• MBTA’s Problem Is Not Lack of Funding
• The MBTA Commuter Rail’s Cost Structure is Off the Rails
• Massachusetts Experience with Hard and Soft Receiverships