I agree that there are serious issues with the MBTA and with the overall transportation system planning, I just don't agree that Boston 2024 is the appropriate vehicle to fix those systemic problems.
If I was vague in prior posts, I apologize. I'm with you insofar as it's a very dangerous and risky proposition to tie the Olympics with a fundamental
overhaul of the way that mass transit operations and capital construction is handled in Mass. I've been beating that drum for a while.
However, the hope was, at the start of the 2024 process, that the Olympic requirements would force the State to look at projects that are absolutely necessary, as Red-Blue is, but don't carry enough political currency to win funding from Legislature via MassDOT and the CIP. That was the hope, and in that I'm disappointed.
As Equilibria says - there are unique opportunities along with Games. Sure, it's well and good to say "but we should be doing that anyways!" But we aren't, and we won't, and that's life. Cynical, sure, but I've spent enough time buried in transit commission reports that date back 100+ years in some cases that advocate for a system we still haven't come close to realizing. It's a shame then, the way the Olympics has played out - the entire focus has been on assuring us plebs that no public funding will be involved, when they should have instead shown us a vision of how a combination of public and private funds could benefit the city and shown the IOC a vision of returning to the Barcelona/Urban Revival model (whether or not that could actually happens is iffy, but that's what marketing is for!). They started out strong in this regard, but it's just fallen apart as of late.
So it's not about fixing the MBTA, it's about skirting the normal order of business to get funding for projects as 2024 alters the political ground and should offer transit advocates a more forceful position than they would normally have, even if only temporary.