TransitMatters Exec. Director & Staff's Public Comments At August MBTA Board Meeting

Below is the full transcript of the public comment our Executive Director, Jarred Johnson, presented to the MBTA Board on August 24, 2023:

“Good morning, Secretary Fiandaca, Chair Glynn, General Manager Eng, members of the board, and staff. I appreciate the opportunity to provide public comment. 

My name is Jarred Johnson, the Executive Director of TransitMatters and a frustrated T rider. 

The work of turning around an agency beset with a myriad of problems is no mean feat. I hope I have expressed gratitude for this board and the welcome change in leadership in the C-Suite. 

However, for people who don’t read the Globe, or attend Boston Chamber breakfasts, for the riders struggling to get to work on time every day, or trying to make a doctor’s appointment on time. In other words, the many people who depend on the Red Line, which is 40 min slower than at the start of this administration, or the 1 bus, which saw yet another service cut earlier this year, or the Orange Line, which is 10 min slower than before the shutdown. Those riders could be forgiven for thinking nothing fundamentally has changed. 

If this sounds harsh, then let’s be clear: the reality of their daily transit commutes is harsh. And harsh is not acceptable. I’m trying to bring in the voices of the people who can’t make a 10 a.m. meeting. I have tried to say this every single way possible: this agency is in danger of entering a death spiral. And if that happens, it will be because this agency is moving too slowly to show riders it is making progress, or that it cares about them. 

The ending of the “Show Your Charlie Card” is a small thing, but in my mind, it says a lot about how this agency sees the current landscape and how out of touch that view is. 

I also want to highlight the stark difference in how MassDOT had people out at Haymarket one year before the start of Sumner Tunnel work to alert drivers well in advance. It then asked the T to pay for free Blue Line service as well as subsidize Commuter Rail and ferry service. It had elected and senior administration officials riding the T, and it provided up-to-date information to encourage usage of public transit.  

These efforts show that you can try to effect mode shift and make people’s lives better in spite of infrastructure challenges when it’s a political imperative.

My argument isn’t that the T and MassDOT shouldn’t have done this for the 50,000-odd drivers using the tunnel, but that it should be the standard for 90,000 Red Line riders or nearly 300,000 bus riders. 

I care so deeply about this system and I think it’s key to our housing, climate, economic, and equity goals. I shouldn’t have to beg the administration to act like it. 

It’s time for that fundamental shift so promised in campaign speeches and first-day remarks to happen. I mean this in terms of communication, in terms of transparency, and in terms of taking decisive, visible, and immediately effective actions that make rider’s lives easier while you work on the things that will take more time. I also mean this in terms of coming clean with the legislature and the public about the significant looming operating budget crisis and the overall continued underfunding of the transit and rail system. This system needs an unprecedented infusion of new funding over the next ten years to remake the system. Incrementalism has left this agency and this administration playing a futile game of transit whack-a-mole. It won’t work, it isn’t working, and it will be a terrible legacy for you all to have.

I’ll close by saying that the T’s posture of conservatism—withholding information like the Capital Needs Assessment, saying nothing other than the truth even if it’s bad news—has not helped it in the past. It hasn’t led the legislature to act. It hasn’t made the T a bigger priority for previous governors. And there’s no indication that this will change. 

I want this agency to treat the slow zones and dropped bus trips wasting precious hours of riders’ lives like an emergency. 

I want the T to treat the extreme gulf of capital funding available to meet the need, which I know is likely 2x that of previous estimates like an emergency. I want the T to treat riders with the dignity and respect they deserve. And to fight for them, and indeed the future of our region.”

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Below is the full transcript of the public comment our Policy Analyst and Programs Manager, Katie Calandriello, and TransitMatters Labs Co-Lead presented to the MBTA Board on August 24, 2023:

“Good morning, Secretary Fiandaca, Chair Glynn, General Manager Eng, members of the board, and staff. Thank you for allowing us to comment this morning on behalf of TransitMatters. 

My name is Katie Calandriello, Policy Analyst and Programs Manager at TransitMatters, and we would like to respond to the current state of slow zones on our subway as highlighted by the Slow Zone Tracker on our Data Dashboard. 

We're encouraged by the state of slow zones on the Blue Line, but we continue to be concerned about the state of the Orange and Red Lines. In the former case, on the Orange Line, slow time is up 220% since before the shutdown last fall. In the latter case, slow time across the Red Line has increased 58% since July 20, putting it within 15 minutes of the post-inspection 83-minute peak on April 13 earlier this year.

This demonstrates that our slow zones have not been fixed, and in some cases have gotten worse. However, these aren’t just lines on a graph. Our riders are feeling these slow zones too. 

TransitMatters urges the MBTA to continue the “Show Your Charlie Card” program on Commuter Rail lines running adjacent to our subway system until slow zones return to their March 9, 2023 levels, before the blanket speed restrictions and track inspections. 

This policy was enacted to provide alternative service to riders with ongoing slow zones and it is the duty of the MBTA to continue this service until slow zones are ameliorated. 

In a time when our transit system is in one of the worst conditions it’s ever been in, we need to be doing everything we can to get riders where they need to be, safely, quickly, and reliably. 

It’s small policies like this that can help our transit network bounce back. 

Thank you.”

Media Statement: TransitMatters Demands Answers For Beleaguered Red Line Riders; The MBTA Must Regain Trust

BOSTON, October 24, 2022 — MBTA Red Line riders put up with a lot - broken escalators, crumbling staircases, and too-frequent derailments. But lately, anyone riding the rails between Alewife and Ashmont or Braintree has almost certainly noticed that their ride is also quite a bit slower than it should be. The TransitMatters Slow Zone Tracker shows that a round trip on the Red Line is almost 15 minutes longer than it should be, with no sign of improvement. In a Boston Herald article on October 19th, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that “The T’s Engineering and Maintenance Division is working to schedule an appropriate time to perform rail replacement activities." This brief statement is insufficient to address the concerns and anxieties of riders and municipalities that rely on the Red Line. The MBTA must come forward with a complete and specific description of the deficiencies on the Red Line, and be fully transparent about what it will take to fix them and whether the T has the resources to do the job.

Unfortunately, this opaque statement continues a troubling pattern. Whether it was the announcement on the MBTA website, quickly retracted, of a severe north-side Red Line diversion of indefinite length, or the "late completion of overnight work" causing shuttle buses to run during the morning peak hours just last week, the MBTA continues to be secretive and unclear regarding the condition of the Red Line and the work that needs to be done. TransitMatters strongly believes that the MBTA must do three things as soon as possible, and prior to any further Red Line (or any other rapid transit line) disruptions or diversions, to remedy the lack of clarity and help repair rider trust.

• Give advance notice of closures and diversions, and provide high-quality alternatives. The MBTA must provide at least three months of notice to municipalities and community stakeholders of closures and diversions on rapid transit lines, to ensure that plans can be made to accomodate diversion routes and provide high-quality alternate accommodations to riders. Those major stakeholders include Massachusetts General Hospital, UMass Boston, Harvard University, MIT, and every business in Kendall Square and the Seaport and Financial Districts whose customers and employees depend on Red Line access.  The MBTA should also reroute feeder buses to active rapid transit stations, and provide additional supplemental service on affected routes, including Commuter Rail. The MBTA should also provide meaningful fare mitigation and reduction during any large service disruption.

• Be clear about the work being performed and the condition of the infrastructure, before, during, and after the diversion. Before any diversion on a rapid transit line, the MBTA must give a clear statement of the work to be performed, and the ways in which the repairs will benefit safety and service. During the diversion, the Authority must provide regular updates on the work and be transparent about any delays or incidents. After the diversion, the MBTA must be clear about what work was completed, and when, if ever, service will improve. There must not be a repeat of the Orange Line shutdown, with conflicting statements, ever-shifting schedules, and slower service.

• Perform work overnight or on weekends, with early closures rather than full shutdowns. Full shutdowns are harmful to the system’s most vulnerable riders, and they are harmful to the economy.  The more work that the MBTA can do at night and on weekends with early closures and late openings, the better it is for riders and for everyone in Greater Boston. The MBTA should do what it can to increase its maintenance workforce, invest in permanent staff, and invest in maintenance equipment to increase Maintenance of Way productivity and effectiveness. The best shutdown is the one that doesn't happen.

TransitMatters believes that it's possible to make necessary safety and capital improvements while also minimizing the negative impact on riders. This is national and international best practice. More importantly, the T must develop the skills and workforce to do important work without shutting down whole lines. The alternative is a system that fails its riders at a time when rider confidence is at an ebb, and fails the region at a time when it needs a high-functioning transit system to support a recovering economy. 

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

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Media Statement: Red Line Derailment at Broadway

Media Statement - Red Line Derailment at Broadway

BOSTON, September 28, 2021— 

A high functioning public transit system is essential for Metro Boston's economy, providing access to jobs & key destinations, reducing traffic congestion & providing mobility equity. It is also essential if Massachusetts is going to attain its carbon emissions goals. A series of recent events disrupting MBTA service underscores the urgent need for the Governor and Legislature to provide the T with the necessary resources to step up critical repair and maintenance activities. This should include an ambitious agenda to inventory and repair or replace aging infrastructure across the system.

While we do not yet know the cause of this morning's derailment, older Red Line cars have a history of platform strikes, namely at Charles/MGH. The MBTA also must take every necessary and appropriate action to accelerate delivery of new Red and Orange Line cars. Finally we call on the Governor to appoint an MBTA governing board with members who can match or exceed the expertise of the former FMCB. The nearly three month delay in making these appointments is unacceptable.

TransitMatters has confidence that a properly funded MBTA, with the right internal resources, can deliver quality service in Metro Boston. Transit matters a lot to the overall quality of life and economy of our region. We all need to treat it as the essential public good that it is.

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

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Photo credit: Elisabeth Boyce-Jacino