Report finds T’s riders at risk

[unhappycamper]

A recent T fire stranded a train on Longfellow Bridge.


Report finds T’s riders at risk
By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / November 4, 2009

A decade of systemic neglect and mounting financial problems has left the MBTA with public safety issues that are far more serious than previously revealed and swiftly growing worse, according to a devastating independent report ordered by Governor Deval Patrick.

The report, obtained by the Globe yesterday, found that the agency has left more than 50 critically important safety projects unfunded because of a “mountain of red ink.’’ In the unsparing words of the author, if the MBTA were a private firm, it “would likely fold or seek bankruptcy.’’

“It’s fair to say that they are not keeping up with the safety standards that they themselves subscribe to,’’ said David F. D’Alessandro, the former John Hancock chairman who led the review.

Patrick, who will join D’Alessandro in releasing the report this morning, requested the top-to-bottom analysis in August after he helped orchestrate the ouster of Daniel A. Grabauskas as general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The report is generally uncritical of MBTA management. Instead, it places most of the blame on a change in the way the MBTA was funded, a change approved by the Legislature in 2000.


Rest of article at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/04/report_finds_ts_riders_at_risk/


on edit to add: Many of the folks that visit me in Boston are impressed with the T. Public transportation should be subsidized by our Congress critters.