What's behind the MBTA mess? - Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

FOX UNDERCOVER (MyFoxBoston.com) -- The MBTA is in crisis and people traveling in and out of Boston know that all too well this week.

Passengers have been pushed to the brink from the red line to the commuter rail.

At the height of Monday's storm, Governor Charlie Baker's frustration was evident: “Let's face it, this can't happen again," said Baker.

And that was before the T announced a complete shutdown of rail service for Tuesday.

MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott suddenly announced her resignation on Wednesday, but not before offering up her assessment of the transportation system she heads up.

"What you have got to do is give that person, whoever they are, God junior or whomever, give them the resources that they need. That means there's got to be significant investments and reinvestment in this system," said Scott.

The numbers are staggering: the MBTA is $9,000,000,000 in debt and faces a $3,000,000,000 maintenance backlog.

"I relate it to a family. if you have a financial problems, you could say we need more money or you could say we have to cut some things out and economize. Maybe a combination would be good, but just don't go to the plan... get me more money," said Greg Sullivan, former State Inspector General and Research Director with the Pioneer Institute.

The Pioneer Institute calls the MBTA's problems, "…the fault of multiple administrations and legislatures... who pushed the MBTA to expand faster than is reasonable."

That includes the $600,000,000 Greenbush commuter rail line and late last year agreeing to pay $23,000,000 for rail rights to bring daily commuter rail service to Gillette Stadium.

Sullivan believes there are actually many projects in pipeline that should be shelved until the MBTA takes care of the infrastructure and basics first and try to get control of the costs.

Sullivan isn't the only one who has voiced these concerns. A 2009 independent review of the MBTA requested by former Governor Deval Patrick recommended slowing expansion, but also warned about the aging, underfunded, and underperforming MBTA fleet and hundreds of millions in unfunded but critical safety projects.

Steve Poftak, Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government isn't surprised that the MBTA is groaning under the weight of all this snow.

“We've deferred maintenance for years and the bills are coming due," said Poftak adding that when you apply very old equipment to extreme weather conditions, you're going to have problems.

Poftak believes the long-term solution is to invest in maintenance and to work down this deferred maintenance backlog, but admits that is not a simple task.

There's no quick band-aid, leaving Governor Baker, the legislature, and the Mass Department of Transportation Board of Directors to come up with a solution.

The Pioneer Institute is calling for the legislature to place the MBTA into receivership and give the receivership board the power to stop expansion plans and construction.

The Institute also suggests having the state assume some of the MBTA's debt associated with the Big Dig while putting strict controls on hiring.

This crisis is far from over.

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