| November 5, 2009 Broadside: T report delivers the obvious
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(NECN: Jim Braude) - Everyone thought it was a good idea when Gov. Deval Patrick asked David D'Alessandro, a very credible businessman, to take a fresh look at the MBTA system: a mismanaged patchwork of aging cars, obsolete track, frustrated passengers, and did I mention it's under a mountain of debt, borrowing money just to meet payrolls???
So D'Alessandro delivers his MBTA report -- on time, I should point out, which the T never is -- and he gets right to the point:
No fewer than 51 deferred MBTA maintenance projects represent "a danger to life or limb of passengers and/or employees."
To underline the point, D'Alessandro says one section of the red line, between Alewife and Harvard stations, is so bad -- and three years overdue for repair -- that he wouldn't ride it.
So then Gov. Patrick is asked if it's unsafe to ride the Red Line, and the governor flat out contradicts D'Alessandro and says he would ride ... but he orders inspections to be done the next day.
Is this any way to run a railroad????
Why did it take an outside report by independent experts to point out what riders on Red Line experience every day: cars constantly stopping between stations because of breakdowns and safety issues???
And why did the governor contradict the report as soon as it was handed to him?
Why was an emergency inspection ordered of a situation that should have been checked years ago?
The whole experience
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