More than $543 million in “safety-critical” projects at the MBTA are going unfunded this fiscal year, roughly 92 percent of the state’s most pressing sites, according to an independent review of the T, which also concluded a fare hike in 2010 “defies credibility” and that the state needs to show riders that it is improving T safety and service.
Of 57 projects, totaling $590 million that received the highest rating for urgency, six received appropriations, totaling $47.2 million, according to the analysis, which called three fare hikes enacted since 2000 the “only major long-term operational success” of an MBTA financing reform law passed with fanfare nine years ago. That law was “founded upon a combination of optimistic, unrealistic and untested assumptions,” the report said.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, after initiating hearings on fare hikes and service cuts, said earlier this year it would hold off on paring back rides or boosting fares until the report’s delivery. While recommending against fare hikes next year, the report says “there is little question that secure new revenue sources will have to be developed over time” and recommends slowing T expansion efforts until safety and maintenance problems are addressed.
Many trains and buses in the T fleet are due for overhauls or replacement, but the authority can’t afford those efforts, according to the report, which makes a “direct connection” between fleet service problems and breakdowns and service delays.
The report’s chief author, former insurance executive David D’Alessandro, found that the MBTA is likely to post a cumulative $1.19 billion budget deficit through fiscal 2014, likely exacerbated by upcoming collective bargaining deals due next June, looming increases in pension costs, and energy and debt-service cost increases.
Patrick commissioned D’Alessandro, a former John Hancock CEO with deep civic ties to the area, to conduct the study after the administration pushed out MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas in August after Grabauskas resisted a push for fare hikes.
In the current fiscal year, D’Alessandro said, the MBTA logged more than $3 billion worth of projects that required “state of good repair work,” with only 6 percent of those receiving funding. To blunt growth in that deficit, the report found, the annual allocation would need to grow 48 percent, to $694 million.
Further, the system continues to grapple with unforeseen costs that pose safety perils, according to the report. For instance, to replace an aging Red Line cable that recently caught fire and disrupted service, the T will need roughly $140 million, money that will likely be funneled from other projects.
