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just_planning_ahead t1_je0b9js wrote

Reply to comment by tryingkelly in Crisis-Hit MBTA to Be Led by Man Who Turned Around Long Island Railroad by Illustrious-Nose3100

If it is more the any "one person" that can help, then let him fall on the sword in the attempt.

I don't mean I actually want him to fail, but even seeing someone even trying would be nice. Like for example, in Milton, their stairs to their train station being removed with no timeline to replacement implying years to even decades, the alleged issue is repairing the stairs triggers ADA compliance so the MBTA needs funding and thus a legislature issue. Milton seem to have tried to pull every string they have between political avenues and even lawsuits. But the MBTA barely responds back to Milton, much less than actually act like their hands are actually tied rather than acting like one tying hands by stonewalling to even give a response.

If the issue is the legislature, then it would be nice to see the MBTA actually act like that implying that it wants to improve but can't rather than the above which implies they just have no interest. If we look back to just Poftak, then just remembering during the year before the pandemic, he even used to say that the MBTA doesn't need more money as more money don't speed up their "fixes".

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tryingkelly t1_je0bmku wrote

I feel weirdly like I need to defend the T here and I don’t want too. He’s probably going to fail. Massachusetts politics are insular and corrupt, and notoriously unfriendly to outsiders, and he’s gonna need political cooperation to succeed.

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Maxpowr9 t1_je0tdv0 wrote

Yep. It's why the State Legislature fought so hard against the FTA taking over. Same reason they're fighting against being audited. Corruption is likely rampant in State Government and MBTA.

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wittgensteins-boat t1_je1bcge wrote

In what manner did the legislature fight against Federal Transit Administration?

Citations needed.

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[deleted] t1_je4ueh8 wrote

[deleted]

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wittgensteins-boat t1_je4z4cj wrote

Not the legislature's move.

A crisis of repairs needed for new rolling stock to be able to operate on the line, after an egregious fire.

That is safety compliance expenditure, even if inadequate, compared to decades of inadequate funding for capital maintenance.

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SkiingAway t1_je0uzrd wrote

Eh, NYS is just as infamously difficult and corrupt.

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spitfish t1_je1nurw wrote

> Massachusetts politics are insular and corrupt,

The only thing we can do to prevent that is to get involved in local politics.

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wittgensteins-boat t1_je1ayh5 wrote

Lack of Accessibility makes the MBTA a class action lawsuit away from properly fixing this and other stations.

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Doctrina_Stabilitas t1_je1dkso wrote

The mbta is more accessible than other comparable American transit systems, if you think that’s not the case, I encourage you to take the Orange line and listen to the beeping

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wittgensteins-boat t1_je1x2kq wrote

I agree that it is the case, thanks to the settlement of the Feingold suit in 2006, and the two decades of investment since then.

New York only in the last year settled a similar accessibility suit, and is three decades away from coming into substantial compliance, under the settlement funding process.

And has another active suits relating to buses.

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bakgwailo t1_je1i9dl wrote

The MBTA has known the stairs were crumbling for years. The station itself is accessible by multiple other at grade and level entrances from the sidewalk.

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