I'm not surprised. The news coverage from the past few days all but implied that the MBTA was going to renew the MBCR's contract.
Even though 3 out of 10 trains were late in October and November 2007, the MBCR is getting another three years to run the commuter rail trains in Massachusetts. The original contract was supposed to expire in July 2008.
A priceless quote:
The rail company has vowed to improve service and officials have said that many problems were beyond its control -- including delays on a set of tracks dispatched by another railroad company.The MBCR is going to improve the commuter rail service? Really? What's their incentive? They performed less than mediocre in regards to the original $1.07 billion contract. So now they're actually going to try to "improve" the performance. I'll believe it when I see it.
This sounds like more of the same for Massachusetts politics. I'm really disappointed that the MBCR got to continue their contract, without firm improvement goals set into place. Well, if there are improvement goals, no one yet knows what they will be.
I really hope that the Patrick administration, the current Mass. state House and Senate, and federally elected officials hold the MBTA/MBCR accountable.
I also hope that I'm not going to be receiving a nice fare hike in 2008. That would not be optimal.
I'm sure there will be more news about the contract extension in tomorrow's newspapers.
No comments:
Post a Comment