Gov. Deval Patrick dispatched a crew of workers to inspect the troubled stretch on the Red Line cited in the T report, yesterday. William Mitchell, the T’s acting general manager, called the report “sobering.”
T in worse shape than we thought
$1.19B
The cumulative deficit the T will face by FY14, if the new sales tax
revenue goes away, based on current revenue and expenditure trends,
according to the review.
Other findings
Maintaining the vehicle fleets at the nation’s oldest public transit system “is a Herculean and expensive task.”
A private sector firm faced with the same financial hurdles of the T “would likely fold or seek bankruptcy.”
Recommends the T slow its plans for expansion.
With the T’s maintenance backlog exceeding $3 billion, The MBTA report released yesterday found 51 of 57 high-priority T safety projects couldn’t be funded in the latest budget.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who had ordered the analysis, stressed the MBTA “is safe for riders,” though David D’Alessandro, the report’s primary author and a former John Hancock chairman, said the T’s infrastructure faces “considerable problems” unless more money is dedicated.
Included in the $543 million worth of critical unfunded projects is an $80 million job to replace concrete slabs beneath the Red Line damaged by water leaks. In some areas, corroded fasteners that hold the track in place are “presenting the possibility of train derailment.” Earlier in the day D’Alessandro told WTKK-FM he wouldn’t ride the Red Line between Alewife and Harvard stations.
The report recommended reprioritizing top safety projects, finding new revenue sources and having the T reexamine its debt issues and consult MassDOT before adding to debt.
Forward funding debacle
In 2000, the Legislature enacted a “Forward Funding” plan for the MBTA,
which shifted 20 percent of the revenue from the sales tax to the T
rather than the state simply closing its budget gap at year’s end. But
the plan also forced the authority to balance its own budget and
eventually become “self-sustaining.” Despite a goal of cutting
operating costs by 2 percent annually in FY01, those costs instead rose
35 percent by FY06 for various reasons, such as rising price tags for
health care and energy — and the T was forced to dip into reserves and
restructure and defer debts to balance its budgets.
Upside: No fare hikes
While a cringe-inducing report outlined the financial state of the
MBTA, it did not offer specific new revenue sources to fix the
problems. Neither did Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday — though he stressed
T riders shouldn’t expect fare increases for at least a year or two.
A fare hike proposal had been shelved until the conclusion of this
report, but yesterday Patrick conceded the state can’t ask residents to
pay more for T rides until other reforms and cost-saving measures take
form — the same argument he made Monday about revisiting a gas tax
hike.
