More than 100 Green Line passengers strolling by a darkened tunnel after their practice obtained caught. More irritating delays in getting new Red and Orange Line trains. More diversions and shutdowns coming quickly on the Green, Red and Orange Lines.
These are actually Gov. Maura Healey’s issues.
No extra blaming Charlie Baker or the earlier MBTA board.
The clock is ticking on Healey’s seek for a brand new MBTA basic supervisor and her plan to restructure T management.
Change couldn’t come quickly sufficient.
If Healey is just too cautious to take daring motion like placing the T in state receivership, she ought to a minimum of put the company below her workplace’s management.
It could be dangerous however a dramatic assertion that the T will not be held unaccountable.
Healey must also be extra seen on the T. She clearly can’t take the practice day by day due to safety considerations however how about just a few shock inspections every now and then? Maybe ship Kim Driscoll on the commuter rail.
Nearly three months after Healey was elected, there are simply too many indicators that the T continues to be being run by the identical incompetent crew that Baker assembled.
The interim T supervisor — a holdover from Baker’s administration — continues to run the besieged company and it might be months earlier than the brand new seek for a GM is completed.
There are nonetheless different holdovers on the T board, which sits by and does and says nothing concerning the company’s mounting issues.
It needs to be a humiliation to Healey that the T’s communications crew continues to lie and obfuscate, like insisting that South Station is open all evening to accommodate the homeless.
Why ought to it take months for Healey to put in her personal crew on the T, which needs to be the highest precedence of her administration?
Healey knew for a yr that she was going to be governor in 2023. She had loads of time to plan. She ought to have changed the outdated guard on day one.
Healey’s choose for Secretary of Transportation, Gina Fiandaca, is simply now beginning her job three weeks after Healey’s inauguration. She wants to maneuver shortly to ascertain her presence and start to show across the company. Every week that goes by is per week wasted.
The T’s apologetic tone and mistake-ridden observe report are actually on Fiandaca and Healey’s plate.
“Riders are advised that due to the complexity of the continued demolition of the Government Center Garage by HYM Construction, additional weekend diversions will be necessary in the coming months to accommodate the ongoing work,” MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston stated this week. “The MBTA apologizes for this inconvenience.”
Apologies aren’t sufficient. Riders are fed up with these. Time for Healey to reestablish credibility.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”