|
Sometimes it rains in Boston. https://twitter.com/EricaMattison/status/718178114908647424 Luckily the leaks at my closest station are much better managed (by creating a slolam of trash barrels to catch the water.) Proposition Joe posted:The MBTA is in quite a sorry state right now. Last winter, the system shut down for weeks because of heavy snow which caused significant public outcry. Of course, Massachusetts had recently elected a Republican governor so instead of actual fixes the governor put in place a Fiscal Management and Control Board which has largely ignored the MBTA's existential problems, like its massive debt and state of good repair backlog. Instead, they've raise fares over LOUD objections, put certain bus routes out to bid for privatization, and cut services like late night. That last service cut was done without even doing an equity analysis to find out the negative impact on the low income riders who used the late night service and that got the FTA to lodge a complaint, but the service is still getting axed. Paolomania posted:It must be mentioned that this is a perfect example of politics impacting public transit as not only is the currrent austeriocrat a problem, but the MBTA's financial issues exist for one major reason: the "forward funding" changes that came in 2000 that transferred about $1.65B prior debt onto the MBTA, piled on $1.7B of Big Dig mitigation debt, and has resulted in $1.85B debt since. Obviously the actions of the state to strangle the MBTA are the biggest culprit, but are there some kernels of truth about the MBTA's fiscal mismanagement? Such as the unaffordable gobs of overtime they pay maintenance workers to slow the growth of the repair backlog? (Since infrastructure should be profitable duh  ) It can be tough to parse the truth from the union-bashing propaganda.
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2016 17:15
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 15:51 |
|