Not satisfied with chronically abusing its riders, the MBTA has now managed to shut down a good part of the state with yet another display of bungling and mismanagement on a vast scale.

And other than its long-suffering ridership, maybe the only group as dismayed by the MBTA’s epic meltdown is the business community, especially developers whose projects rely on a working transportation system. After all, if people can’t get to your brand new mixed-used development without enduring yet another T ride from hell, there’s little point in building it in the first place.

A huge debt burden and cash flow issues have certainly played a role in the T’s spectacular belly-flop of the last few weeks, which ended with MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott calling it quits after just two years on the job.

Yet that’s far from the whole story here.

Money woes are just one element in a decades-long story of bureaucratic incompetence, greed and arrogance that has succeeded – with help from an epic snowstorm – in bringing an entire region to its knees, argues Barbara Anderson, the anti-tax crusader who has been one of the MBTA’s most dogged critics over the years.

Before we pour more money down the T rat hole, the troubled transportation agency needs to first be brought to heel, she contends.

“Its riders are the last of its concerns,” said Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “The whole idea of the city’s transportation system shutting down – that is a little bit beyond abuse. That’s ridiculous.”

Now Anderson, as always, is sure to raise the hackles of the “more money” crowd that often runs the show in Massachusetts politics. And yes, the T does need more money, with a crippling $9 billion in debt, some of which was dumped on the transit authority during the Big Dig.

But the T has a long and well documented history of mismanagement, stuff that is so incredible it’s hard to believe.

The fact that the T’s fleet of commuter rail cars is old and worn out is old news, as anyone who tries to rely on the service to get to work on time finds out soon enough. But here’s the thing: You know all those old trains the T keeps blaming for its delays? They could have been replaced years ago if it hadn’t botched the job so badly.

The T has taken years to get new locomotives and passenger cars ordered and built, only to find out they are still not ready and need hundreds of millions in repairs, as The Boston Globe has reported.

The state’s troubled transportation agency laid out $190 million to a South Korean company for 75 new rail cars, only to have them delivered two and a half years late. To top it off, most were so trouble-plagued that “many of their parts had to be replaced,” the paper notes.

Now the T has managed to top even that boondoggle, spending $222 million to acquire another batch of 40 new locomotives, only to have to sideline most of them to replace faulty parts, according to The Globe.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the T’s woes.

A Whole Lot Of Issues

The commuter rail has long had a spotty record collecting fares, with the new private contractor, Keolis, apparently having the same issue as its predecessor, having been cited for it as part of a recent $1.6 million fine.

Simply put, when the trains get crowded, conductors don’t always punch everyone’s tickets.

Given that the T’s pension system is headed for financial disaster, it’s not like it couldn’t use the money. T workers contribute half the amount of other state employees while enjoying gold-plated benefits, notes Charles Chieppo, a senior fellow at the Pioneer Institute and principal of Chieppo Strategies.

Thousands have taken advantage of a perk that allows for early retirement at age 55 – and given that many of us can now expect to live into our 80s or even 90s, that is a considerable obligation for any pension system, let alone a troubled one. The pension fund, which has little public oversight, even blew $25 million on a shady hedge fund.

But the T’s worst offense has been the disgusting way it has treated its riders.

Running a system that is chronically late is bad enough, but take a recent Red Line incident, in which the T spokesman chided the riders for supposedly overreacting to yet another train failure. Their offense? Kicking in the windows of a subway car that was filling with smoke to help the terrified passengers stuck inside.

It took a scolding from Gov. Charlie Baker to knock some common sense into the T’s tone-deaf communications department. But the T’s woes are no longer just a singular burden for its riders.

The train wreck formerly known as the MBTA has suddenly morphed into a major regional issue, combining with our increasingly jammed highways to threaten the region’s economy and prospects for new growth and development.

More than 80 percent of the board members of NAIOP Massachusetts, which represents developers across the state, listed the state’s increasingly beleaguered rail lines and highways either their No. 1 or No. 2 concerns, notes David Begelfer, the group’s chief executive.

No Easy Fix

There is probably no easy way to fix the T’s woes, but leaving the current hapless crew in charge at the MBTA would fly in the face of all common sense.

Anderson wants to see the new governor explore ways to end the T’s status as an independent authority. The T’s independence has served to shield it from scrutiny and accountability to the public. If it were brought back into the fold of state government, it would have to answer to our elected representatives in the Legislature and the governor, she argues.

Chieppo contends that while ramping up funding is key to fixing the MBTA, the money has to be tied in with performance metrics.

He says a “worst case” scenario might involve the state taking over the T through some sort of receivership, possibly similar to the takeover of failing cities like Lawrence and Chelsea in the past. Receivership might enable the state to cut through the more than two dozen union contracts and rules against contracting out work to the private sector.

With all due respect to Chieppo, this seems like the “best case” scenario to me. The MBTA has reached has finally reached the end of its line. If there ever was time for a state takeover, it’s now.

Email: sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com