http://ibert.org/mbta/
I balanced the budget by increasing fares by 70% and raising the gas tax by 15 cents, with 33% of that revenue dedicated to the MBTA. Usually I'm against such schemes, but the MBTA provides a critical role in reducing radial traffic demand inside 128. I created a $230 million surplus that in my ideal world be directed towards taking out additional loans to extend the Orange and Red lines out to 128 with express service to downtown to relieve congestion and improve the standard of living for people.
On the expense side (which the user unfortunately can't control) I would like to do the following:
-Put the MBTA workers on the same health insurance plan as the rest of the state or something similar to the recent municipal employee union.
-Create a second tier wage structure in the next labor contract, similar to what has happened in the auto industry. Wages and benefits should be based on real world factors.
-Fund capital improvements that reduce the need for manned trains (as I saw discussed elsewhere on here)
Ideally, unconstrained by politics and reality I this is what I would like to do:
- Sell/lease the subway systems by color/rail class to third parties.
- Close down bus operations while retaining physical property
- Sell a capped number of licenses for routes and coordinate with service providers for the creation of new routes/modification of old routes while requiring a minimum level of service
- Sell/lease the commuter rail system to encourage competition with other modes of transit
By making these systems private, several different kinds of efficiencies can be gained:
- Elimination of public employee unions that do not serve the interests of customers in terms of cost, quality of employees (patronage or lottery hire), or accountability to the customers.
- Elimination of patronage hires within MBTA system
- Elimination of job-by-lottery hires
- Davis-Bacon no longer applies, as there is no federal funding for system improvements which removes the wage requirements for construction projects.
- MA prevailing wage laws, which are even worse than Davis-Bacon requires, no longer apply.
- Sales tax revenue can be diverted elsewhere.
- Constant focus on providing a better level of service to the customer at a lower cost when compared with alternatives
And here is a link of 2009 Salaries for T-workers...
http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/mbta/wages.DESC//1/
I balanced the budget by increasing fares by 70% and raising the gas tax by 15 cents, with 33% of that revenue dedicated to the MBTA. Usually I'm against such schemes, but the MBTA provides a critical role in reducing radial traffic demand inside 128. I created a $230 million surplus that in my ideal world be directed towards taking out additional loans to extend the Orange and Red lines out to 128 with express service to downtown to relieve congestion and improve the standard of living for people.
On the expense side (which the user unfortunately can't control) I would like to do the following:
-Put the MBTA workers on the same health insurance plan as the rest of the state or something similar to the recent municipal employee union.
-Create a second tier wage structure in the next labor contract, similar to what has happened in the auto industry. Wages and benefits should be based on real world factors.
-Fund capital improvements that reduce the need for manned trains (as I saw discussed elsewhere on here)
Ideally, unconstrained by politics and reality I this is what I would like to do:
- Sell/lease the subway systems by color/rail class to third parties.
- Close down bus operations while retaining physical property
- Sell a capped number of licenses for routes and coordinate with service providers for the creation of new routes/modification of old routes while requiring a minimum level of service
- Sell/lease the commuter rail system to encourage competition with other modes of transit
By making these systems private, several different kinds of efficiencies can be gained:
- Elimination of public employee unions that do not serve the interests of customers in terms of cost, quality of employees (patronage or lottery hire), or accountability to the customers.
- Elimination of patronage hires within MBTA system
- Elimination of job-by-lottery hires
- Davis-Bacon no longer applies, as there is no federal funding for system improvements which removes the wage requirements for construction projects.
- MA prevailing wage laws, which are even worse than Davis-Bacon requires, no longer apply.
- Sales tax revenue can be diverted elsewhere.
- Constant focus on providing a better level of service to the customer at a lower cost when compared with alternatives
And here is a link of 2009 Salaries for T-workers...
http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/mbta/wages.DESC//1/
