Top transportation officials estimated they will need hundreds of millions of dollars to fix glaring safety issues at the MBTA and defended the agency’s transparency as they faced probing questions at the outset of a legislative oversight hearing.
The MBTA’s leadership and rank-and-file staff have not done enough to ensure its public transit service operates safely, the head of the T’s governing board said Thursday while calling on those up and down the agency’s ranks to redouble their efforts.
Six of the T’s new Orange Line cars, representing enough for one full train set, will remain out of service after the MBTA found they each had a small number of bolts improperly installed, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Thursday.
Everett, Lynn and Roxbury are among the areas where MBTA bus service would increase significantly under a new plan rolled out Monday, but funding and staffing uncertainty pose obstacles for the effort to reimagine a core pillar of the agency’s operations.
Four days after the T announced it would again extend the shutdown of Blue Line subway service between Maverick and Bowdoin because a “construction tool cart derailed,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak told reporters there have in fact been three such incidents during the maintenance effort.
Federal transit officials will meet with T leaders this week to kick off a safety investigation into the agency, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said Tuesday, amid heightened scrutiny following a series of high-profile and sometimes fatal incidents.
MBTA overseers stamped their approval Thursday on a $2.55 billion fiscal 2023 budget draft that adds nearly 150 new positions to address safety needs, avoids fare hikes and service cuts, and drives up agency spending by 8 percent at a time when T revenues face a precarious future.
Masks will no longer be required on MBTA vehicles and properties, Massachusetts Department of Transportation officials announced Tuesday afternoon, a day after a federal judge in Florida struck down a nationwide masking mandate on public transportation systems.
The budget the legislature sent to Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday allocates an extra $23 million to the MBTA, but the T’s general manager was hesitant Tuesday to discuss plans for the funding boost before the ink dries on a final spending plan.
Fallout from last week’s Red Line derailment can now include a new push to change the MBTA’s governance structure.
The head of the Boston-area transit system promised an independent review of recent subway derailments after one during Tuesday’s morning rush caused widespread disruption for commuters.
Ramirez’s departure comes just 15 months after he was chosen from a national pool of applicants to run the MBTA, and signed a three-year contract paying him $320,000 a year last year.
