GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Thursday announced an $83 million winter resiliency plan for the MBTA, urged the Legislature to pass a separate package of management reforms, and ruled out new tax revenue for the transit agency.
Baker repeated his administration’s standard line that the many holes in the T’s operations need to be fixed before new revenue for the agency can even be considered. But he subsequently answered yes when asked if new tax revenue for the T was off the table. He noted the agency has the capacity to raise significant revenue internally by becoming more reliable and attracting more riders, by selling off surplus real estate, and by selling advertising.
Baker said he and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, who prior to joining his administration often called for more revenue for the T, are on the same page in regard to additional funding for the agency.
The governor urged the Legislature to pass his T reform plan, which includes a fiscal control board, ends binding arbitration in disputes with the T’s union, and repeals the so-called Pacheco Law, which regulates privatization of state services.
Baker, Pollack, and interim T General Manager Frank DePaola announced a series of initiatives to help the T winter weather storms in the future. The measures include snow fences and heater upgrades along outdoor sections of the Red and Orange Lines. The plan also directs the T to contract for snow removal with outside vendors and the Department of Corrections so transit workers can focus on keeping the trains and buses running instead of clearing ice and snow from stations. The T also plans to purchase new snow removal equipment and rehab existing machines.
Many MBTA employees said the agency’s rail lines wouldn’t have had to shut down entirely during last winter’s unprecedented snow storms if trains had continued to run around the clock to keep snow from piling up. That approach was not included in the winter resiliency plan unveiled on Thursday, but DePaola said he is aware that many T employees think management erred in not ordering the trains to keep running. He said he plans to study the issue.
The winter resiliency plan is expected to cost $82.7 million, with $62 million coming from the federal government, $10 million from the MBTA’s capital budget, and $11.7 million from the T’s operating funds.
He noted the agency has the capacity to raise significant revenue
internally by becoming more reliable and attracting more riders, by
selling off surplus real estate, and by selling advertising.
Once you sell all the surplus real estate, what more money you get out of? Talk about squeezing more out of stone?