DONALD HUMASON JR.
BOSTON – Responding to weeks of repeated performance failures by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and partner Keolis Commuter Services, Senator Don Humason (R-2nd Hampden & Hampshire District) announced that the Senate Republican Caucus has filed legislation that will provide tools for the beleaguered public transportation system that will financially stabilize the MBTA and restore public confidence in the system.
The bipartisan measure authored by the caucus would create a fiscal recovery trust fund, require the Secretary of Administration and Finance to identify funds to assist the MBTA, and would create a new seven member MBTA finance control board that could ultimately be dissolved in favor of a receiver that would take over the board’s responsibilities as a last resort if sufficient progress hadn’t been made.
“Even here in western Massachusetts our news is filled with reports of the failures of the MBTA and the dire and negative impact it is having on the lives of eastern Mass. commuters, businesses, and the metro-region economy.” Humason said. “My colleagues and I recognize that the MBTA is highly subsidized by taxpayers across the Commonwealth and so we all have a stake in how the T is funded, run, and managed.”
“Arctic temperatures and unprecedented snowfall totals has only exasperated the issues currently hampering the MBTA and commuter rail services,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). “This legislation seeks to address the underlining problems that have been going on for years to address the needs of the public in order to create a world-class public transportation system that they deserve.”
The responsibilities of the MBTA finance control board/receiver include:
• Securing financial and performance stability of the MBTA;
• Implementing fiscal controls;
• Implementing uniform budget and planning guidelines and procedures for all departments;
• Levying fines on vendors who fail to maintain on-time rates, vehicle cleanliness, fare collections, station maintenance, and staff training;
• Executing capital budgets and borrowing authorizations to finance or refinance any debt;
• Maintaining authority to appoint, remove, supervise, and control all MBTA employees and personnel matters;
• Developing a long range plan for MBTA financial and structural sustainability; and
• Requiring the filing of a quarterly report to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means detailing how any expended loan funds were used in the past quarter.
“For years we have been calling on the MBTA to fund necessary maintenance instead of costly expansion. The consequences of their decisions and fiscal mismanagement have been on full display. It is time for a new direction,” said Assistant Minority Leader Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth).
“The legislature cannot sit idly by as commuters continue to feel the pain of a failed public transportation system that they depend on day in and day out to get to work, home, school, and other appointments and destinations,” said Tarr. “The Senate Republican Caucus has offered a very reasonable, commonsense approach to the long-overdue issues that have been plaguing the public transportation system for years.”
Humason acknowledged that while none of the 11 cities and towns in his district are served by the MBTA he has already been hearing from constituents who are calling for complete transparency at the MBTA, oversight of all divisions at the T, and the proper level of investment in the transportation system.
The 2nd Hampden and Hampshire District consists of the cities of Agawam, Easthampton, Holyoke and Westfield, parts of the city of Chicopee, and the towns of Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southampton, Southwick and Tolland.
Meanhwile, the MBTA says it is weighing options for reimbursing passengers for weather-related breakdowns and delays over the past several weeks.
In a special message to riders yesterday, MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott said the agency will discuss those unspecified options next week with the finance committee of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s board of directors. A final recommendation will then be made to the board on March 11.
Scott said the agency appreciates the “hardships and inconvenience caused by the significant disruptions in service over the last four weeks.”
The T says all subway and trolley lines were operational yesterday for the first time since Feb. 1, but equipment problems and still causing delays and cancellations on commuter rail lines.
