Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Raymond LaHood, whose 2019 security assessment panel report offered the inspiration for the federal investigation of the MBTA, will present testimony at an upcoming legislative oversight listening to on the embattled company.
During the Oct. 25 listening to, state lawmakers will ask LaHood to offer suggestions on what the legislature and subsequent gubernatorial administration can do to repair the T.
“I think the feeling of myself and my co-chair is the value the former secretary brings is a forward-looking one, given what’s in the report,” mentioned William Straus, House chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation.
“The importance of the legislature going forward and any governor is how to bring corrective actions to the T, not just in terms of safety, but its overall management structure.”
In addition to his work on the report, Straus mentioned the committee was additionally occupied with drawing from LaHood’s broad transportation expertise.
“We think it’s very important to have experts, in particular those that did a really deep dive into the MBTA,” mentioned Brendan Crighton, Senate chair of the committee.
“A lot of what we’ve discussed so far through these oversight hearings reflects on that 2019 report. You see many recurring themes in the FTA study.”
Both the security assessment panel in 2019 and the Federal Transit Administration this summer time got here to the identical conclusion of their respective studies: The MBTA’s deal with finishing capital tasks has come on the expense of protected day-to-day operations.
According to the FTA report, MBTA management said they’d not taken corrective motion to handle that concern because of the challenges and uncertainties of the pandemic.
However, throughout that point the MBTA largely supported its $2 billion per yr capital program with time beyond regulation assets from its operations and upkeep departments, the report states.
Given the recurring themes, Straus mentioned talks ought to focus on whether or not the MBTA ought to be tasked with dealing with capital building tasks. Whatever occurs, he mentioned the MBTA ought to be freed as much as deal with delivering transportation providers.
In July, Straus prompt that the T be absorbed as a public transit division of MassDOT, very similar to the freeway and aeronautics divisions.
Next week’s listening to would be the committee’s third. The purpose is to conclude with a report by the top of the legislative session in December, Straus mentioned.
“Typically when we’ve done that kind of report, it would include legislative recommendations for the next session and recommendations for regulatory changes, which could be implemented by a governor based on existing statutes,” he mentioned.
The report will even cowl security oversight, at the moment tasked to the Department of Public Utilities, and what that ought to appear to be.
“That’s one of the bigger questions: Is the DPU the right entity to have that safety oversight role?” mentioned Crighton. “As it functions now, I don’t think so.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”