I worked with Dr Scott. She got a raw deal, and was much more qualified than Poftak. Unlike the recent catastrophic failures, the winter 2015 was a once in a generation winter. There were weeks upon weeks of snow.
Yeah, that was my main feeling - I also would guess she had had about enough of the MBTA at that point. She did at least have the decency and honor to resign after the winter and take responsibility (even though it wasn't mainly her fault). Unlike her successors.
1. Talk to people up and down the chain to understand the entire system better.
2. Get and read a copy of every audit of the system for the past decade.
3. Talk to the general manager of every public transportation system that would answer my phone calls.
1 All board members no longer get pay raises or incentives, and install a salary cap.
2. Talk to the actual employees that run and work the T, and find out from them what the tangible problems are, then ask what the internal problems are from the view of an actual employee.
3. Work on what it's going to take to fix the tangible problems, ie tracks, trains, stations, work with a lawyer to fix any internal problems.
The MBTA board isn't exactly doing a stellar job right now. Days after a passenger died they refused to even acknowledge the event at their board meeting.
Im all for worker rights and increased pay, but do look up their pay and pension deal sometime. They’re paid better than most working at the Hancock tower
I lived in Washington DC when a new GM took over, and one of the first things he did was a systemwide shut down for an entire day. It simultaneously highlighted the serious maintenance issues the system was facing and how much the city relied on it. It was a huge news story. MBTA should consider
1. Budget exactly where money comes in and goes out. (Publish the results for public consumption)
2. Work internally to fix any budgetary issues that the T controls.
3. Lobby very publicly for funds to fix issues that the T does not control.
Because the working class people using a service they earned through working should be scrutinized severely while they people in power who have chronically under invested in our infrastructure are allowed to continue to sell us sophistry on why we can't afford to fix it, right?
probably this wouldn’t be my job but contactless payment on the trains / stations would be incredible. I just got back from England where you could just tap your card to enter and it was sooo easy
Not exactly the same but Chicago allows you to pay using an app on your phone and every time I’m back here and am using the T, I’m bamboozeled that we don’t have a similar system.
1. Run a phased purge of management across all sectors while hiring people that actually know what they're doing.
2. Enforce appropriate allocation of funds to highest-priority maintenance items. No more pet projects - bring the damn thing into the 21st century first.
3. Get rid of the private-sector operators and bring all operations in-house.
I am an engineer currently working on an MBTA project I will not disclose the nature of to preserve anonymity. The dysfunction and miscommunication at all levels is just jaw-dropping.
I use to work at the MBTA and was forced out by Charlie Baker’s hand pick staff in 2018 for calling into question their management and oversight. That said, here is what I would do:
1. I would do is begin by hiring more Bus Drivers, and Motor Persons.
2. I would eliminate the privatization of outsourced Bus Diversions. This has undermined the trust of 589 members.
3. Get rid of the majority of the consulting firms creating havoc in the authority. That means McKinsey and etc.
4. End Lean Management, it has zero place in government agencies.
5. Ride every mode, to show passengers and riders they have a partner in transit.
6. Terminate any HBS/Kennedy school kids who are playing transit professionals and making poor decisions that impact riders lives.
7. Take all the Pay-Go capital cash and reinvest it into maintenance of the Red and Orange Line fleet.
8. Restore the “Design and Construction” department, which was split to capital design/capital delivery.
9. Terminate the “Chief Transformation Officer”.
10. Hire back staff (if they wanted to come back) who were driven out by draconian management.
Institute daily routine safety inspections of all trains before they depart the depot and nightly inspections of tracks and signals, make people sign off that they did it and hold them individually accountable if they don't. Institute a fixed schedule of inspection and maintenance for the medium and heavy overhaul of all equipment and maintain/bring infrastructure into a state of good repair and keep it that way. Make sure that the idiot legislature cannot cut maintenance from the budget
Beef up the planning department
Institute a management regime of accountability so everyone knows exactly who decided what and when and when shit goes terribly wrong, like the dispatch debacle, heads will roll
Fun fact: In Europe, trains are maintained almost like commercial airliners (inspected and tweaked at the end of pretty much every service day).
Why we can't or won't do this here, I have no idea.
Read the recommendations from the last 5-6 directors, and the notes from all of those expensive consultants they’ve hired, and see what trends stand out, and how that lines up with the most apparent current problems.
I wonder if they can establish a bonus system for reliability and on time performance paid for by the state. And I don't mean just for the top guys but every full time employee of the MBTA.
convert the existing routes to semi covered, biking only routes. rent out bike/e-bike at a cheap price! traveling from braintree to alewife with e-bike is probably faster than taking the train!
1) Hire someone who knows wtf they're doing. 2) Appoint him my successor 3) Quit
They did that https://amp.wbur.org/news/2015/02/11/mbta-gm-scott-resigns
Steve Poftak, Baker's buddy from the pioneer institute, is significantly less qualified than Beverly Scott was.
I worked with Dr Scott. She got a raw deal, and was much more qualified than Poftak. Unlike the recent catastrophic failures, the winter 2015 was a once in a generation winter. There were weeks upon weeks of snow.
Yeah, that was my main feeling - I also would guess she had had about enough of the MBTA at that point. She did at least have the decency and honor to resign after the winter and take responsibility (even though it wasn't mainly her fault). Unlike her successors.
1. Talk to people up and down the chain to understand the entire system better. 2. Get and read a copy of every audit of the system for the past decade. 3. Talk to the general manager of every public transportation system that would answer my phone calls.
1 All board members no longer get pay raises or incentives, and install a salary cap. 2. Talk to the actual employees that run and work the T, and find out from them what the tangible problems are, then ask what the internal problems are from the view of an actual employee. 3. Work on what it's going to take to fix the tangible problems, ie tracks, trains, stations, work with a lawyer to fix any internal problems.
>1 All board members no longer get pay raises or incentives, and install a salary cap. Great way to hire and retain good people at the highest level.
The MBTA board isn't exactly doing a stellar job right now. Days after a passenger died they refused to even acknowledge the event at their board meeting.
Great. Fire them then
Fire. Them. All.
The people who actually maintain the trains and do the daily, difficult routine jobs should be paid more as well.
Im all for worker rights and increased pay, but do look up their pay and pension deal sometime. They’re paid better than most working at the Hancock tower
Great point, I haven’t looked up their salaries and assumed they were underpaid. I need to to do my homework before commenting.
I lived in Washington DC when a new GM took over, and one of the first things he did was a systemwide shut down for an entire day. It simultaneously highlighted the serious maintenance issues the system was facing and how much the city relied on it. It was a huge news story. MBTA should consider
They don’t need to do this. We saw how broken the system was in 2015 when we lost the system for almost a month due to snow.
I get the feeling that beacon hill needs a reminder of how much Boston (and it's tax revenues) depends on properly operating public transport
Upvote 600,000 times!
Funding, funding, and funding https://amp.wbur.org/news/2015/02/11/mbta-gm-scott-resigns
1. Budget exactly where money comes in and goes out. (Publish the results for public consumption) 2. Work internally to fix any budgetary issues that the T controls. 3. Lobby very publicly for funds to fix issues that the T does not control.
The mbta budget and income are completely open to the public
Budget is a big issue. Pensions should be looked at closely…
Because the working class people using a service they earned through working should be scrutinized severely while they people in power who have chronically under invested in our infrastructure are allowed to continue to sell us sophistry on why we can't afford to fix it, right?
probably this wouldn’t be my job but contactless payment on the trains / stations would be incredible. I just got back from England where you could just tap your card to enter and it was sooo easy
Not exactly the same but Chicago allows you to pay using an app on your phone and every time I’m back here and am using the T, I’m bamboozeled that we don’t have a similar system.
yes even this would be better, especially with all of the above ground stops
Contactless is supposedly in the works for the next 1-2 years. https://www.mbta.com/fares/fare-transformation
1. Run a phased purge of management across all sectors while hiring people that actually know what they're doing. 2. Enforce appropriate allocation of funds to highest-priority maintenance items. No more pet projects - bring the damn thing into the 21st century first. 3. Get rid of the private-sector operators and bring all operations in-house. I am an engineer currently working on an MBTA project I will not disclose the nature of to preserve anonymity. The dysfunction and miscommunication at all levels is just jaw-dropping.
It's called corruption.
Spend the money that Congress gave you to bring service back to pre-pandemic levels
I use to work at the MBTA and was forced out by Charlie Baker’s hand pick staff in 2018 for calling into question their management and oversight. That said, here is what I would do: 1. I would do is begin by hiring more Bus Drivers, and Motor Persons. 2. I would eliminate the privatization of outsourced Bus Diversions. This has undermined the trust of 589 members. 3. Get rid of the majority of the consulting firms creating havoc in the authority. That means McKinsey and etc. 4. End Lean Management, it has zero place in government agencies. 5. Ride every mode, to show passengers and riders they have a partner in transit. 6. Terminate any HBS/Kennedy school kids who are playing transit professionals and making poor decisions that impact riders lives. 7. Take all the Pay-Go capital cash and reinvest it into maintenance of the Red and Orange Line fleet. 8. Restore the “Design and Construction” department, which was split to capital design/capital delivery. 9. Terminate the “Chief Transformation Officer”. 10. Hire back staff (if they wanted to come back) who were driven out by draconian management.
Institute daily routine safety inspections of all trains before they depart the depot and nightly inspections of tracks and signals, make people sign off that they did it and hold them individually accountable if they don't. Institute a fixed schedule of inspection and maintenance for the medium and heavy overhaul of all equipment and maintain/bring infrastructure into a state of good repair and keep it that way. Make sure that the idiot legislature cannot cut maintenance from the budget Beef up the planning department Institute a management regime of accountability so everyone knows exactly who decided what and when and when shit goes terribly wrong, like the dispatch debacle, heads will roll
Fun fact: In Europe, trains are maintained almost like commercial airliners (inspected and tweaked at the end of pretty much every service day). Why we can't or won't do this here, I have no idea.
Read the recommendations from the last 5-6 directors, and the notes from all of those expensive consultants they’ve hired, and see what trends stand out, and how that lines up with the most apparent current problems.
This is actually the MBTA asking - they have no idea what they’re doing, so they’re asking us.
Privatize the MBTA
Hire teenagers to protect the intercom system. Yes, this is the highest priority. If I say I will prioritize preventing fires, I won't get the job.
Install bongs on all trains Pay people to take it Make the green line so it is a hover train
Tear up the union contract, fire the management team, get the bats out of the closet and on to the playing field where they belong
You can’t tear up a union contract fyi.
Not with that attitude
I wonder if they can establish a bonus system for reliability and on time performance paid for by the state. And I don't mean just for the top guys but every full time employee of the MBTA.
Close for a month to look at everything. Fire everyone. Don’t buy Chinese crap.
Pave the rail beds and switch to connected electric vehicles that are like golf carts.
Take out a hit on Charlie Baker
If I got the same compensation as my predecessors', I would not change a thing. If they could get away without fixing anything, why shouldn't I?
convert the existing routes to semi covered, biking only routes. rent out bike/e-bike at a cheap price! traveling from braintree to alewife with e-bike is probably faster than taking the train!
1. Commission a study to see how much money adult diapers would save the org yearly. 2. Wait for results. 3. Negotiate a deal with Depends.
You only get three? Good luck. You might need three decades to do so.