Media Statement: TransitMatters Welcomes New GM, Calls For Plan To Restore Service

BOSTON, March 27, 2023 — TransitMatters welcomes incoming General Manager Eng. We wish him well as he takes on the difficult task of rebuilding rider confidence, restoring service, improving the relationship between management and front-line staff, and laying out a vision for our transit system that we care deeply about. We call on the new General Manager to release a plan for restoring service with key action items and a schedule identified as soon as possible.

While we appreciate that the administration has followed through on this campaign promise, not a single rider will cheer today. The Healey administration must remain laser-focused on the immediate needs of riders: bringing back pre-pandemic service on the rapid transit system and bus network, ensuring rider safety, and improving service by addressing slow zones, dropped bus trips, and poorly planned diversions.

We stand firm in the assertion that no one person can fix the myriad of issues at the T.  It will take a combination of legislative and gubernatorial actions to resolve the significant issues that remain, including operating and capital budget deficiencies, a Capital Investment Plan (CIP) that fails to meet the needs of our rapidly growing region, and a Board that is failing to provide appropriate oversight.

We applaud MBTA veteran Jeff Gonneville for his service as interim General Manager. His transparency around the track inspection documentation and decisive actions thereafter to protect riders were greatly appreciated. We expect that the incoming General Manager will stick to this example and continue the robust investigation the interim General Manager started into what happened and how we can prevent it from happening again.

Fix-it-first is not enough. It has proven to be insufficient. We need to fix and also forward-proof the T. Forward-proofing the T means building the essential infrastructure that meets our needs. This includes Regional Rail electrification, bus electrification, and the Red Blue connector. These physical investments must be accompanied by fare policy and service delivery standards that address inequality and encourage mode shift.

We look forward to continuing our advocacy for a public transit system that responds to the equity, economic and environmental needs of a forward-thinking world-class region.

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

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MBTA General Manager Search Process Now Underway

Despite initially tepid response to the open position for MBTA General Manager (and MassDOT Rail and Transit Administrator), a number of applicants have stepped forward in the month since it was last reported on the matter.

From the Board of Directors, John Jenkins, Elizabeth Levin, and Secretary Richard Davey comprise the three person preliminary search committee who met this morning to begin screening the applicants who have thrown themselves into the pool thus far.

Their intent is to narrow down the pool of applicants to three to four candidates to present to the board with a group interview of selected candidates. So far, there are over 40 applicants with varying degrees of operational and leadership expertise, including candidates with experience from Toronto's TTC to San Francisco's MUNI. 13 of those were put to consideration this morning.

Aside from the desired qualities listed in the posting on the MBTA web site, the committee repeated its desire for candidates with good on-the-ground, operational expertise balanced with well-rounded experience across organisation operations and strong leadership experience.

Through all of this, will we end up with a GM who can lead the MBTA and continue with the internal organisational reform started by Rich Davey almost two years ago? Unlike in New York, where there has been enough political conflict to lead their last and most qualified CEO to resign, Governor Patrick strongly supports both MassDOT and the MBTA and we rarely see him bash either of them. Does it help that the Governor's office is not more than 850 metres away from both the Secretary's and General Manager's office, just across the Commons?

Suffice it to say, the upcoming MBTA GM will be managing the 6th most used public transport system in the US with the greatest debt of them all. S/he will need to work closely with the Governor, Secretary, and legislature in not only securing the funds necessary to operate the economic engine of the Commonwealth, but also show competence in affecting effective reform in the nation's most organisationally flat public transport operator. With little political friction to deal with (compared to that of the MBTA's closest neighbours in the US), the next GM will be able to focus on actually running the system and the search committee will be able to look for a candidate who has more public transport operations experience than New York's new MTA CEO, who is more known for his political and financial management savvy than his (nonexistent) transit experience.

The position remains open to applicants until the end of this year and the search committee will continue to filter candidates as they come in.