Help wanted – Seeking an MBTA General Manager
Looking for someone to manage aging infrastructure and equipment at all costs. Must be able to operate at 100% no matter what.
Photo from MBTA.com
On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the MBTA General Manager Beverly A. Scott submitted her letter of resignation to the MassDOT Board of Directors. Over the last couple of weeks the MBTA was crippled by multiple snowstorms dumping feet of snow to the Metro Boston area. The first storm caused huge delays and cancellations. Then, once the second snow storm rolled in, Scott took drastic measures to avoid more problems. She order an MBTA shut down for Tuesday, February 10th to clean up after the storm. – Read Scott’s letter of resignation
The new Massachusetts’s Governor Charlie Baker called the T’s performance “simply not acceptable”. With these remarks, Scott took the heat. In a perfect world, the city and regional transit system should be able to run at 100% no matter what is thrown at it, even a few punches from mother nature. In order for this to happen, the city/state would need to keep investing into the system and keep replacing old and tired equipment, and we’d need a perfect world of course. Sadly, a good amount of the MBTA rolling fleet is 30 years old or older, running with “band-aids”, so this is far from possible.
Subway
Green Line – Majority of its equipment is almost 30 years old.
Orange Line – Almost of its equipment is 35 years old.
Red Line – Majority of its equipment is almost 30 years old.
Blue Line – Majority of its equipment is only 8 years old.
Buses
The fleet is ranging in age, with the oldest being 10 years old.
Commuter Rail
Locomotives are ranging in age from 35 years to only a few years old. As for the rolling stock is varies.
The MBTA been working on replacing its fleet as the funds become available. It’s not an overnight fix, and a reliable transit system cannot run on a shoestring budget. When it comes to state and federal budget cuts, the rail and transportation systems become the first victims. The result of this is having to run on an aging system that’s far from dependable. There may be ways to tighten the MBTA wallet, but it will always need state and federal help.
Really, it isn’t fair to put the blame on Scott; she is doing the best she can with the equipment and funds available. We have had historical snowfall over a short period of time as of late, and the system really didn’t have time to recover from the first snow event. In amongst this mess, Scott became a casualty of mother nature and politicians looking for a scapegoat.
Rail infrastructure is the future because our highways simply cannot handle the demand. I hope this is a turning point for the state of Massachusetts, because other areas are trying to stay ahead of the curve; North Carolina being an example. North Carolina is investing millions into its current rail infrastructure. Studies show millennials (people in the age group between the 1980s to early 2000s) are parking their cars and using public transit versus going the conventional highway route. Some millennials don’t even own a car and are 100% dependent on public transit; this is the future workforce replacing the “baby boom” generation. If Massachusetts wants to keep people and jobs here, it needs to invest into its rail infrastructure.
I’ve haven’t meet Beverly Scott, but it seem like she truly cared about the transit system and I wish her well in her future endeavors.
Baker ‘disappointed’ MBTA couldn’t maintain schedule during storm
Video thanks to WCVB-TV
MBTA General Manager on shutdown: “This was a perfect storm”
Video thanks to WCVB-TV
Gov. Baker dials back anger about MBTA’s performance
Video thanks to WCVB-TV
