Report details ‘bleak’ state of T

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/09/report_details_bleak_state_of_t

Report details ‘bleak’ state of T
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Chris Cassidy

The MBTA’s financial woes are even worse than state officials thought earlier this spring, according to a special panel’s findings, released yesterday.

“Without question, this report paints a bleak picture of the current state of the MBTA,” said Joseph Aiello, chairman of the Fiscal and Management Control Board, set up by Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this year in the wake of the T’s disastrous winter. “But it provides the baseline we need to be able to move forward with actions to get the MBTA back on track.”

~snip~

• The MBTA’s operating budget is “unsustainable” and “broken,” with expenses growing at nearly three times the rate of revenue, according to the report. Those runaway costs will lead to a $427 million deficit by fiscal 2020.

• It would cost a whopping $7.3 billion to bring the MBTA’s entire infrastructure into good working condition.

--

The Gov should worry about this stuff AND the Department of Child Services, rather than privatizing public schools and T bus lines.