Editorial Staff

Getting the T Back on Track

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The reforms that the Massachusetts Legislature advanced at the MBTA just two short years ago are having a tangible impact on the T’s financial viability and operations.

In the near term, more remains to be done to close the T’s annual budget gap, including three big items:

  • competitively bidding the T’s bus maintenance and in-person customer services,
  • further expanding the use of ridesharing and taxicabs in providing The Ride paratransit services, and
  • reforming the T’s troubled pension system.

Just as importantly, the T continues to leave millions of capital dollars – including dollars targeted at critical maintenance projects – unspent.  Below are some recent news items and research from Pioneer that is all aimed at transforming the quality of service at the MBTA.

Codcast
The Codcast: Pacheco Law punch-outFeaturing Pioneer Research Director Greg Sullivan and state Auditor Suzanne Bump
In what may be a precursor to a soon-to-come Beacon Hill debate on the Pacheco Law, state Auditor Suzanne Bump squared off with Greg Sullivan, research director at Pioneer Institute, to discuss (sometimes heatedly) the pros and cons of the law that regulates privatization of state services. Listen…
CommonWealth magazine: MBTA control board is on trackBy Charles Chieppo
REMARKABLE PROGRESS HAS been made since a Fiscal and Management Control Board was installed during the summer of 2015 and given powers not previously available to MBTA management. Yet those accomplishments are just a down payment on what it will take to fix the T, and the clock is ticking.As difficult as many of the board’s decisions have been, far greater challenges lie ahead. With less than a year and a half remaining on the MBTA’s exemption from the Commonwealth’s anti-privatization law and the possibility that the Fiscal and Management Control Board could go out of existence at the same time, the board must act quickly to capitalize on the trust it has earned. Read more…
Salem News: MBTA service improves after Baker’s reforms

By Christian Wade

Excerpt: “Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute, a Boston think tank, said the Baker administration has made “huge steps” toward reducing the system’s structural deficit and reining in operating costs.
The agency needs to invest some of that savings in capital improvements, she said, to confront a $7 billion backlog of deferred maintenance. “It’s grown so big that it’s hampering further progress,” she said. “And that’s not going to go away overnight. It’s going to take a long time to get the money to pay for those projects.” Connaughton said increasing T ridership is a key to its financial health. MBTA figures show about 123,000 people rode the commuter rail on an average day in December – an estimated drop of about 8,000 riders from the beginning of the year. Read more...

WBZ I-Team: Managers At MBTA Drive Secret Take-Home Cars Owned By Contractors

Pioneer Institute’s Mary Z. Connaughton appeared on WBZ-TV’s I-Team Investigates segment last week, to discuss a taxpayer-funded perk that some MBTA managers have been taking advantage of for 30 years: unmarked take-home cars owned by construction companies that contract with the MBTA on multi-million dollar projects. The companies and the MBTA also covered costs associated with gas, insurance, maintenance, and parking. The MBTA reacted swiftly to WBZ‘s questioning. The agency has already returned all 23 vehicles to the companies, and ended the practice of putting the vehicle provision in its contracts. Pioneer Institute filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission to review whether the take-home car perk violated conflict of interest laws. The I-Team covered this in a follow-up story.  Watch the segment.   

The Boston Globe: Why the MBTA needs more riders
By Jim Stergios

FEBRUARY 09, 2017

If 2016 demonstrated anything, it is that in politics, a year is time enough to scramble all truisms. Massachusetts is no different – and in a good way.
Who would have thought that, in his 2017 State of the State address, Governor Baker would highlight Brian Shortsleeve, chief administrator and acting general manager of the MBTA, and Carmen’s Union head Jim O’Brien as partners in reform? Just a year ago, the Carmen viewed Shortsleeve as a demolition man imposed on them along with the Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB). To the governor’s team, O’Brien was Mr. Status Quo.

Read more in The Boston Globe…

Visit MBTA Analysis – see how the MBTA compares to peer transit agencies across the U.S.

Get Our Fix the T Updates!

Learn more about our research on how to fix the MBTA!

Pioneer Institute Public Statement on the MBTA’s Proposal to Increase Fares by 6.3 Percent

While Pioneer Institute opposed the 2016 MBTA fare increases,…

Review of MBTA Twitter Alerts Finds Fewer “Delayed” Trains, Corresponding Increase in Those “Running Behind”

BOSTON - A review of four years of MBTA commuter rail Twitter…

Public Statement on MBTA Ridership & Pension Costs

Monday’s meeting of the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control…

The Future of Transportation in the Commonwealth

Taking advantage of the public comment period, Pioneer Institute…

New Study Urges MBTA to Expand Corporate Pass Program

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Watch a video interview of the author on BNN News, and read coverage…

Study: Ferry Service Could Provide Opportunity for MBTA Expansion without Huge Upfront Costs

Read press coverage of this report in the Boston Herald: Study…

Public Statement: Pioneer Applauds MBTA Control Board For Seeking To Modernize Bus Maintenance

Pioneer applauds the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board's…

Report Calls on FMCB to Seek Legislative Intervention on Projected 18-Year, $1.485 Billion T Pension Shortfall

New evaluation commissioned by MBTA projects T contributions…

Study: Evidence Suggests MBTA Pension Low-Balled Costs And Liabilities

Quarter-century of data shows costs at up to six times valuation…

Putting The T On A Clear Path To High Performance

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Pioneer Institute recently submitted public testimony to the…

Study Finds MBTA Had Nation’s Highest Bus Maintenance Costs In 2015

Reducing costs to average of the most similar U.S. transit systems…

Public Statement on Nonrenewal of Keolis Commuter Rail Contract

Pioneer Institute welcomes the news that the MBTA will not renew…

Study Calls For Steps Toward Terminating Troubled MBTA Retirement Fund

The MBTA should assess the feasibility of moving its employees out of the Social Security system and transfer investment management responsibility for its pension fund to the commonwealth’s Pension Reserves Investment Management board as initial steps toward terminating the MBTA Retirement Fund

Study Urges New MBTA Strategic Plan to Focus on Attracting More Riders

Increased ridership would boost revenue, reduce congestion and…

MBTA Analysis Offers Data Comparisons between MBTA & Other Transit Agencies Nationwide

Pioneer Institute is unveiling “MBTAanalysis.com,” a web-based data tool that provides year-by-year comparative data and performance ratings for the MBTA and other transit agencies across the country.

The Future of the MBTA

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Last year the legislature created the MBTA Fiscal and Management…

Study: Expand Use of Transponder Technology to Parking, Other Non-Tolling Services

Report calls for creation of single account to simplify customer…