Richard Davey

The Globe reports on a proposal by state officials to spend an extra $10 billion over the next decade to keep our roads and public-transit systems from collapsing. Naturally, we're talking new taxes to pay for it all.

Read the plan yourself.

Around 8:45 a.m, Susan Anderson tweeted:

The Orange Line is seriously standing by "due to a coffee spill that needs to be cleaned up." ... At least it made for a nice-smelling train first thing in the morning...

The coffee break happened after incoming T General Manager Beverly Scott rode the line from a chat session with commuters at North Station to a chat session with commuters at Back Bay. The T posted a photo of her and soon-to-be boss Richard Davey on the Orange Line. Michael Ratty looked at the photo and asked:

Why isn't Beverly Scott drinking a Dunkin Donuts coffee like Davey? Not a good way to endear yourself to Boston.

Also, while the Orange Line ran perfectly (and strangely emptily) on her trip, commuters on the Red Line and the Needham Line got to experience your basic Monday-morning T delays.

H/t Prairie Rose Clayton for the headline.

Open letter from Richard Davey and Jonathan Davis:

Before our April 4th Board Meeting, we will lay out our final recommendation for closing the Fiscal Year 2013 gap. We continue to work on identifying prudent one-time revenues that will allow us to stave off some of the proposed service cuts for one year. Our final proposal will include both cuts and a fare increase, however.

Updated late Monday.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

The employee today was reprimanded and the incident is now included in his personnel file. No further action will be taken unless such an incident happens again. This matter is closed.

Channel 25 reports the case of the reprogrammed message board on Christmas went straight to the top - and state transportation czar Rich Davey says the unidentified worker will not be punished.

The Globe reports Richard Davey and his wife have ditched their car and now rely on their CharlieCards and Zipcar to get around. You may recall his predecessor was chauffeured around in an MBTA SUV.

Richard Davey's effort may have intensified this morning. Needham Line rider Mike Davis tweets the signboard at his station this morning read:

Train to Boston NOT MOVING at this time.

Richard Davey tells Jon Keller people are willing to accept the T's running antiquated trains if the T does a good enough job informing them about the reasons for delays; says some T workers seem to forget they're ultimately dealing with people, not steel containers on wheels.

The MBTA is holding a Be the MBTA General Manager for a Day contest. Spend the day with Rich Davey as he battles aged infrastructure and lack of funds. Tour the Everett repair shops and the High Street control center:

Tell us in less than 150 words why you want to be the MBTA GM for a day. All contestants must be at least 18 years of age.

Deadline is Jan. 31.

Via Justin Sabourin.

MBTA General Manager Rich Davey collars a fare jumper at Park Street yesterday. Davey explains to WBUR what happened in the video.

It'll be a T-mendous day at Fenway Park: In addition to Richard Davey throwing out the first pitch (the Sox and the T have long promoted use of public transit to get to and from Fenway), the Sox will honor Orange Line train operator Charice Lewis and inspector Jacqueline Osorio for the way they stopped a train just inches from that drunk lady who fell on the tracks at North Station last fall. Also, the MBTA Transit Police Color Guard Unit will present the flag for the national anthem.

Have something to say to the guy in charge of the T? Of course you do. Tomorrow's your chance: Richard Davey will be at the North Quincy stop on the Red Line between 7 and 9 a.m. "to customers concerns, and promote public transportation."

Nowhere near the City of Presidents? He'll be doing a whole lot of listening every Thursday for the next few weeks, including Thursday, April 15 between 7 and 9 a.m. at Dudley Square and the same time on April 22 at Kenmore.

More video:
Richard Davey introduces himself.

New Globe transportation writer Eric Moskowitz takes a ride on the T with the T's new general manager, learns all sorts of interesting tidbits (his father used to sing "Charlie on the MTA" to him), reports that, yes, the T is going to fix the busted gongy thing at Kendall, rather than just let it fall on somebody's head or something, which seemed to be the previous T administration's answer to its mechanical failings. Says Kendall is his favorite T stop, doesn't mention the giant hidden skull there.

Old Globe transportation writer Noah Bierman, meanwhile, leaves us with a story on how costs of the Ride have soared.

Finally in Globeland, Yvonne Abraham wastes some space telling us the B line is slow and unreliable. Ya think?

The T as tourist attraction: Why not? We've already got people who come from all over just to ride the Mattapan line. So as an amateur train nerd myself, I think it's cool that the new MBTA general manager wants to open up the inner workings of the T to train buffs.

DaveySo Richard Davey says he has a pretty good idea how to increase ridership on the system: Get the trains to run on time. And when that doesn't happen - make sure riders know what's going on.

Davey spoke briefly to reporters today at Back Bay station. He says he takes the T every day now to get to his current job as general manager of the MBCR, which runs the region's commuter-rail trains. He gets on the Green Line at Hynes, and then transfers at Park Street for the Red Line to South Station. He was introduced by state Transportation Secretary Jeff Mullan, who said the MassDOT board will vote Thursday on his recommendation to appoint Davey as general manager.

Davey actually listed safety as his top priority at the T, followed by customer relations, building up trust among employees, innovation in services and maintaining steady finances.

He added that keeping riders informed when things do go wrong is vital. "As long as we're communicating with people, people are generally receptive," he said, adding he was unfamiliar with this morning's Red Line snafu.

Davey, 36, grew up in Randolph.