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!

New Study Reveals MBTA’s Reckless Financial Derivatives

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Read coverage in The Bond Buyer: "MBTA Lost $236M in 15 Years…

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

With talk of fare hikes and ongoing performance problems, Pioneer…

A $49 Million Sweetheart Deal: MBTA Employee Sick Time Perk Enhances Pensions

Listen to the WRKO radio clip of Mary Connaughton interviewed…

Study: Uber, Lyft, Shouldn’t Be Subject to Same Restrictions That Have Harmed Taxis

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Watch an interview with the author on BNN News: https://youtu.be/-cs9vbkDv5E BOSTON…

Study: “Pacheco Law” Has Cost MBTA At Least $450 Million Since 1997

Report presented to legislative leaders and state budget conferees…

Final, Binding Arbitration Major Obstacle to MBTA Accountability & Performance

Uniquely unaccountable arbitration at MBTA, if unchanged, will…

New Report Outlines Massachusetts’ Experience with State Receiverships

Proposes legislation for MBTA emergency control board BOSTON…

The Pioneer Institute’s Statement on the MBTA

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The MBTA is broke and broken.  It is structurally insolvent. …

Study: MBTA Retirement Fund Failings a Cautionary Tale

Study Finds Poor Governance Structure, Lack of Accountability…

Study Calls for MBTA Employees to Be Transferred to State Pension System

Despite claims to the contrary, overly generous benefits, early…

Let’s Guard Public Safety: Letter to MassDOT Secretary Davey

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Pioneer Institute is committed to improving the quality of life…

New Report: Massachusetts’ Tech Tax an Unnecessary Detour

Report Finds Revenue Not Only Option for Plugging Transportation…

Have the T’s Retirement Plans Gone Off the Rails?

Study Finds Financial Condition of MBTA Retirement Plan Deteriorated…

The MBTA’s Out-of-Control Bus Maintenance Costs

Pioneer Institute Study Highlights Overspending on MBTA Bus Maintenance A new…

New Report: Runaway Transportation Costs

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Pioneer's new research director (former state Inspector General)…

Driving Reform: New Study on Real Solutions to Our Transportation Challenges

STUDY: TIE NEW FUNDING TO PERFORMANCE, IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSPORTATION…

The Pioneer Plan for Massachusetts’ Transportation Needs

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Expect more on the Pioneer Plan for Transportation in the coming…

Public Statement: We Must Address Serious Transportation Needs In Massachusetts, But the Governor’s Proposal Is Not Serious

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Pioneer Institute Public Statement from Executive Director Jim Stergios on transportation needs in Massachusetts, and the Governor's recently released proposal.