MBTA stopped reporting repair needs
Off the Rails: MBTA special report
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
By: Matt Stout
MBTA officials, blaming dismal performance on old subway cars and buses, have failed to file reports detailing the troubled system’s needs for at least five years — and have yet to get a new database up and running to track maintenance costs, the Herald has learned.
The last time the public got an updated report about the T’s maintenance backlog was in 2009, when former John Hancock President and CEO David D’Alessandro took an independent look at the T’s aging system and estimated it would cost more than $3 billion to fix it...
T officials admit that a new database that would detail the so-called “state of good repair” costs — created with the help of a
$1 million federal grant — is still not functional, even though former Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration got funds for it several years ago.
With the T collapsing in recent weeks under the weight of a series of historic snowstorms, Baker has called its delays unacceptable, saying Monday that it’s “pretty clear that they need a new operating plan.”
A source close to the administration went further yesterday, saying without data on what needs to be maintained, it’s difficult to create plans to keep the T running before any new cars arrive, which for the beleaguered Red and Orange lines won’t be until 2019 at the earliest.
“The T has been figuring out how to survive day to day. And under the last administration, the plan was for 10 to 15 years in the future. That’s good, but having done that, and with no current plans to acquire any new vehicles ... for the next four years, how are they planning to run the system during that time period?” one source said, summing up the Baker administration’s frustrations.
“Knowing how old they are, how could you not have a game plan?”
