Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T maintenance worker paid $315,000

Official says employee worked 2,600 hours of overtime

By Andy Metzger MBTA 8 Comments Dec 21, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HIGHEST-PAID MBTA EMPLOYEE has been paid about $315,000 so far in 2015, working 4,455 hours, MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve told the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday. That worker, who is a maintenance of way employee, receives a base salary of $85,000 and worked about 2,600 hours(...)

‘Twas the night before …

Taking poetic license with the MBTA

By James Aloisi MBTA 0 Comments Dec 17, 2015

‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS And I jumped out of bed With visions of runaway trains In my head. My dreams, once sullied by Goblins and witches Now were made scary by Levers and switches. Jolted awake, I roamed the dark house, Disturbing the cat who was Stalking a mouse. “Sorry,” said(...)

GLX: It’s not just about transportation

Green Line extension is also about economic development, quality of life

By Peter O'Connor MBTA 0 Comments Dec 11, 2015

I GUESS EVERY ORGANIZATION needs a mission statement. So in 2010, the senior staff of the newly created MassDOT was taking a crack at it, one day, around the secretary’s conference table. One long-serving transportation bureaucrat suggested that the mission should be: To run the best transportation system in the country. Others at the table(...)

MBTA dumps Green Line contractors

Agency plans shakeup of its own project team

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 0 Comments Dec 10, 2015

THE MBTA ON THURSDAY CANCELED THE CONTRACTS of the four major firms working on the Green Line extension and announced it was also going to shake up its own internal project management team. The decision was made after the MassDOT board and the T’s Fiscal Management and Control Board went into executive session on Wednesday(...)

Red Line train goes 4 stops without operator

Pollack: 'We failed our passengers today'

By Andy Metzger MBTA 0 Comments Dec 10, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A 51-year-old Red Line motorman who saw his train exiting Braintree Station without anyone at the controls early Thursday morning quickly alerted MBTA personnel at the station, officials told reporters. Operating in what’s known as “bypass mode” to move beyond a faulty signal, the train did not have its collision avoidance(...)

State begins pruning Green Line extension

Project described as most expensive in country on per-mile basis

By Bruce Mohl MBTA 2 Comments Dec 9, 2015

STATE OFFICIALS TURNED TO OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS on Wednesday for help in deciding whether they should build the Green Line extension to Somerville and also ordered the MBTA not to approve any more spending on the project over the next three months without their approval. One of the consultants characterized the Green Line extension in a(...)

Means-tested T fares could be disastrous

By James Aloisi MBTA 14 Comments Dec 7, 2015

OUR FUTURE, ROBERT KENNEDY ONCE SAID, lies beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. This was an optimistic view of our ability to anticipate (rather than predict) the future, and act decisively upon it. Anticipating the future – understanding trends, changing paradigms and preferences, shifting demographics – is easier to do(...)

T refuses to release Green Line report

Says document is ‘attorney-client privileged’

By Jack Sullivan and Bruce Mohl MBTA, State Government 1 Comment Dec 1, 2015

STATE TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS are refusing to release a consultant’s report on what went wrong with a contract for the Green Line extension to Somerville, saying the document “was prepared under direction of counsel and is attorney-client privileged.” The consultant, Berkeley Research Group, concluded the MBTA’s contractor “worked the system” to its advantage and the state(...)

Consultant: T got snookered on Green Line

Transit agency allowed contractor ‘to work the system’

By Andy Metzger MBTA 1 Comment Nov 30, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE STATE ENABLED a major contracting group to take advantage of it, leading to ballooning Green Line Extension costs, according to a consultant brought in to assess what went wrong. “We allowed them to work the system,” said Brian Lang, a member of the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, summarizing the(...)

Rosenberg warns T on fare hike

Says legislative OK needed for more than 5% increase

By Katie Lannan MBTA 0 Comments Nov 30, 2015

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH MBTA FARE HIKES on the table to address a budget gap and repair backlog at the public transit system, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said Monday that any increases above 5 percent would have to win legislative approval. The MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board is exploring the possibility of raising(...)