Moving security oversight of the MBTA out of the Department of Public Utilities ought to be an instantaneous precedence, says one Massachusetts lawmaker, who’s pushing to create an unbiased fee that will take over this watchdog function.
A invoice establishing this new company, filed by state Sen. Michael Barrett, can be thought of at a Monday Joint Committee on Transportation listening to, step one in what he hopes can be a profitable legislative push.
“I don’t think the federal government will permit us to rest with the status quo,” Barrett mentioned. “We’ve got to do something. The T is not getting any safer. I think it’s high time we acted.”
The Federal Transit Administration issued a scathing critique of DPU’s hands-off method to transportation security oversight and low staffing ranges in that division, within the August 2022 report that adopted its months-long investigation of the MBTA’s subway system.
Barrett mentioned his proposed laws is aware of that criticism, notably the caveat that state security oversight ought to be unbiased from the governor’s workplace. This eliminates each DPU and MassDOT as choices, he mentioned.
Further, there are few present unbiased companies that will current a viable various, “all of which are understaffed and overworked,” Barrett mentioned. Moving oversight from the DPU to the inspector normal’s workplace, a proposal outlined in laws filed by state Rep. William Straus, which can even be thought of throughout Monday’s listening to, shouldn’t be the perfect method, he mentioned.
“The inspector general has the important mission of ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse,” Barrett mentioned. “So, you don’t want to load an extraneous responsibility onto it. What makes the most sense is to create a new independent body that can focus exclusively on transportation safety.”
Barrett envisions this new company, the Commission on Transportation Oversight and Regulation, as taking up all transit oversight tasks, which incorporates not solely the MBTA’s subway system, but additionally buses, regional transit authorities and rideshare corporations like Uber and Lyft.
This, in flip, would unencumber the DPU to concentrate on its major tasks, local weather change and vitality coverage, Barrett mentioned.
Brian Kane, MBTA Advisory Board government director, mentioned that whereas each proposals have benefit, and his board could be blissful to see both of them cross, he sees Barrett’s as being “a little bit stronger.”
“It creates a standalone entity that just works on transportation, and this is similar to what just recently happened in Washington, D.C., what they’ve had in New York City for the past 20-30 years,” mentioned Kane, who will testify in help of Barrett’s invoice on Monday.
“I’m sure the inspector general would do a good job. I’m just not sure they have the transportation know-how to dedicate the time and resources necessary.”
Creating a brand new state security oversight authority will probably be a prolonged course of, in keeping with Kane and Barrett. Monday’s listening to is a primary step, and after events have submitted written feedback and supplied in-person testimony, the House and Senate can be given an opportunity to weigh in, Barrett mentioned.
The change took about 18 months in D.C., Kane mentioned, referring to oversight for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the one different subway system to bear a federal security administration inspection.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”