The MBTA. Four letters that, when spoken to any Bostonian, will notoriously elicit some negative reaction. The reputation of the T is on thin ice, and has been for some years; ridership has been declining since 2016. Many factors come into play when considering the status of the T, including politics and historicism. However, the most important question to ask is: What plans does the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) have to better their service and satisfy discontent residents? Quite a lot, it seems. However, it is up to Boston residents to make their voices heard and point planners and bureaucrats in the right direction to improve service for their communities.

Boston’s public transit system was born in 1856, when the very first horsecar-on-rails was introduced. This line connected Central Square in Cambridge to Bowdoin Street. By the end of the century, the electric street car we know today as the Green Line light rail was in use. Additionally, the city government’s public transit commission constructed North America’s very first subway tunnel, connecting Boylston station to Government Center. The MBTA was eventually founded in 1964, combining all of the railways in the greater Boston area.

In the early eighties, MBTA chairman Barry Locke enacted a series of kickback schemes. Locke and his companions gained about $60,000 over the course of about eight months by promising jobs and land to numerous Boston business owners and bureaucrats. Since the exposure of the schemes, the legacy of the MBTA has had a reputation of mismanagement. This is playing a large role in the 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, with incumbent Gov. Charlie Baker being challenged by Jay Gonzalez, a member of former Gov. Deval Patrick’s cabinet. During Democratic nominee Gonzalez’s early campaign, the T was the top issue addressed by voters. Gonzalez, if elected, intends to end privatization of certain aspects of the system, such as the commuter rail, which causes prices to hike. On the other hand, Republican incumbent Baker thinks that the T has improved since he took office, such as new cars for the Orange and Red Lines. However, Baker also acknowledges that much more work needs to be done.

A September 2018 report by the MBTA and given to the Boston Globe showed that around 60 percent of stations are in a “state of disrepair,” mostly due to a lack of funding. Of the lines graded, the Orange Line was overwhelmingly the most in need of repairs, with 11 out of its 20 stations rated only one out of five potential points. This report has led to the MBTA to divert some of its funding to “preventative maintenance” which will allegedly reconstruct the stations such that they do not deteriorate so quickly.

The MBTA often has to choose between repairing stations or improving overall service, as there is not enough money for both. In general, commuters prefer improvements to the service rather than reconstruction of stations, as it is better for their day-to-day use. One major project to improve train reliability is the introduction of new cars to the Red and Orange Lines. A few of these cars are on track to debut by the end of 2018, with the entire fleet being fully replaced by 2022. Portions of the Orange Line have been closed for maintenance on weekends throughout 2018 as a measure to ready the tracks for the new trains.

The bus system is also in need of some work, and the MBTA has begun projects to improve the speed and scope of service. The Better Bus Project (BBP), set to be fully implemented sometime in 2019, has the goal of researching and identifying issues with bus service, and using this research to deliver superior service in five major categories. These categories are comfort, reliability, frequency, coverage, and span. “Comfort” pertains to the physical space on the bus, ensuring there is enough room for people to sit and that they are not packed too tightly. “Reliability” means ensuring the buses arrive on time and do not leave people waiting for longer than the bus schedule claims. In bettering “frequency,” the MBTA aims to reallocate the buses throughout the day so that there are enough buses during the busiest hours for every commuter. “Coverage” is specific to geographic area. No neighborhood of Boston should be in a “transit drought,” that is, an area with little to no public transportation options. Lastly, “span” refers to the length of time during the day that the bus is in service, and this is already seeing improvement. Outside of the BBP, certain bus lines are seeing increased hours of service, with later nights and earlier mornings.

Perhaps one of the largest undertakings of the year for the MBTA has been the Green Line Extension Project. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project occured on June 25 at the future Union Square station, and the line is planned to open in 2021. These two new lines, which will run north of a relocated Lechmere station, will add six stations to service the transit draughts of the Boston metro area. Neighborhoods that will see new service include East Somerville, Winter Hill, Ward Two, and South Medford. This project is a long-awaited concession to the Conservation Law Foundation, which filed a lawsuit for increased car emissions after the the “Big Dig” project, which relocated Interstate 93 to the O’Neill Tunnel.

Additional concessions after the Big Dig included extensions to the Blue Line to Lynn in the north and Charles/MGH (Red-Blue connector) in the east. Funds for the Lynn project were diverted to the Green Line Extension, and the plan has been put on hold. The Red-Blue connector at Charles/MGH, however, has been de facto dropped, with no mention of the plan on the MBTA website.

The MBTA may not be the best public transit system that the people of Boston could have asked for, but it is clear that in recent years the administration has been attempting to improve their service for all of its constituents. The service is constantly seeking feedback on its projects and status, which can only be given from regular commuters who take the T daily. Passengers can sign up to receive a monthly survey via email that takes no more than 10 minutes to complete. Furthermore, each of the aforementioned projects has board meetings that are open to the public, the schedule of which can be found on the MBTA website. Public engagement is the only way any new projects and improvements will be considered. Communicating with the administration that controls the T helps them understand and identify the issues with their service, and allocate funding accordingly.