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The report on the Green Line extension the T didn't want anybody to see
By adamg on Sat, 01/16/2016 - 12:58pm
CommonWealth reports on the report, which says T officials should have known in 2013 the costs for the stalled project were out of control:
The transit agency had no in-house expertise to rein in the out-of-control costs and relied too heavily on an inexperienced private sector project manager for estimates that were constantly and significantly below the contractor’s estimates.
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Comments
Calling Charlie Baker about T-Lies
What else does the T want to hide from the Public?
No show jobs
Convicted felons behind the wheels
Transit cops brutalize passengers for minor issues
Fare jumpers everywhere
Why are the parking garages falling down
Parking lot scams billing cars twice
Alewife station and Harvard restrooms are filthy and unsafe
Stay out of the mens room at Back Bay
Malden station has to be patrolled by Malden police
Why where the State Police called to investigate sabotage on the rails
North station traffic cops sitting in their fancy cruiser instead of directing traffic
Face meet Palm
"Dirty bathrooms babble babble......Baker"
It's true.
They are filthy. No soap. No paper towels and/or broken hand dryer.
So far as T fixes this is low hanging fruit. Why can't any improvements be made in this area?
And how is
Baker responsible? Remember every shitty decision that democrat Deval made including spending $1B on a website for a benefit which was already prevalent in MA. Is that anecdotal?
Complain all you want about Patrick
But can we get part of the Romneycare/Obamacare switchover straight?
The state didn't change Web sites because Patrick wanted to waste lots of money. It had to because while the programs were outwardly very similar, there were some major changes behind the scenes: With Romneycare, people applying for state-subsidized care did most of their document filing on paper - you had to send copies of your 1040 and other stuff to some PO box in Charlestown. With Obamacare, the idea was to do all that electronically, so you'd key in your SS number and the state system would get all the data it needed behind the scenes from the IRS. Also, Obamacare introduced federal tax credits for people on the subsidized plans, again something that needed back end systems to calculate, store and exchange all over the place. And dental care got added into the mix.
So ironically, the reason we had so much trouble where Kentucky didn't was because we already had a working system, but it was incompatible with Obamacare. Didn't help that we hired the same consulting firm to convert it that built the initial Obamacare system.
Baker is responsible for the T's finance problems
Back when Baker worked for Romney he used "creative financing" to save the Big Dig.
Maybe you weren't born in the 90's but that is the reason they can't pay for anything. Not to mention, it is alot of the reason this project wasn't built in the 90's.
I am not blaming Baker for every stupid T contractor, but he screwed up this project years back.
The Big Dig was in financial
The Big Dig was in financial trouble because the legislature and AG's office had no problem allowing billions of dollars to be swindled by politically connected contractors.
Over a billion dollars just disappeared and no one has ever been able to figure out where it went or held accountable for that massive negligence in accounting or outright theft.
^ complains about the T
^ complains about the T hiding things from the public.
^ complains anonymously, of course.
Don't forget the Red Line
Don't forget the Red Line ghost train.
Lexicon of incompetence
"Ghost" vehicles typically refer to when the T cancels a vehicle, without announcing it or making a published schedule change, in order to cut costs. They got caught doing this with buses a while back, just skipping every nth bus but leaving it in the schedule so people wouldn't know there'd been a de facto service cut.
The Red Line train was a runaway train caused by an operator overriding a safety feature out of laziness, and then needing to override another safety feature (to work around additional T incompetence, broken signalling equipment), which combined spectacularly to create a runaway train. Not sure how people started calling this thing a "ghost" train.
I know, difficult to keep all the T-incompetence lexicon straight. :)
Someone check the reps' bank accounts please.
"The Berkeley report criticized the state’s choice of a contract-bidding method that had never been used before but was authorized by the Legislature as a pilot program."
Baker's been in office for
Baker's been in office for 12½ months. The stuff you describe goes back decades.
Too bad it isn't a highway project
It would be full steam ahead, with rewards for contractors and debt shifted onto the RMV or something.
The MBTA should have kept
Dan Grabuskas!
Grabauskas did the right thing
For Grabsuskas.
His departure should have been a sign of how messed up the T was.
Seems to have done ok for himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Grabauskas#Honolulu_Authority_for_R...
The MBTA??
im shocked!
Penny-wise
And pound foolish.
Fraud
There's obviously fraud going on. Same old, same old.
Mattapan
How can anyone read this report and think there is any validity to the T's argument that they should discontinue the Mattapan high speed trolley to save money?
Because they're currently
Because they're currently trying to patch a $242M hole in their operating budget, and this project was a capital-budget boondoggle. They're not allowed to co-mingle funds from one side to pay for the other, especially earmarked Federal money that is supposed to pay for the GLX. (In fact, the T got caught, after the winter debacle shone a spotlight on them, for paying many of their employees out of the capital budget. So the op budget is in even worse shape this year than it would have been.)
MATTAPAN, not GLX
They are now talking about cutting the Mattapan High Speed Line (which has existed for 80+ years) on the basis that it will save money. They are wrong; it won't save money for a long time as they'd need to replace it with something and the upfront costs aren't trivial.
Given that their data for the GLX was so inaccurate it is hard to believe the T when they talk about changing an existing service that currently is fine.
Related to the upcoming fare hikes...
...this little tidbit caught my eye.
Back in 2013, the Legislature quietly (read: behind closed doors) doubled the limit of fare increases from 5% every two years (2.5% per year over two years) into a 10% increase (5% per year for two years) by inserting the word "annual" into the transportation bill's language.
Perhaps the legislature and the T didn't want riders upset and angry with fare increases to have this come to the light of day either.
http://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/a-beacon-hill-switcheroo/
Green Line Ext can go on the
Green Line Ext can go on the back burner. Let's address the Red Line. We cannot have a repeat of what happened last year. Riders like myself having trouble getting to and from the Quincy area.
Why would you in your right mind use a restroom in a T station?! Gross
Would rather have a restroom
Would rather have a restroom to use at the station than have a station used as a restroom.