Today's P512 Inbound Commute

My commute was fun this morning. Nothing to report, really.

I was tired, so I slept the whole way in.

I took the 7:49 a.m. train from Grafton (otherwise known as the P512) and got to Back Bay Station a little before 9:00 a.m. The P512's schedule states that it arrives into Back Bay Station at 8:54 a.m., so we were pretty much on-time.

From Back Bay Station, I then took the Orange Line over to my office.

In other news, the Boston Herald published this article this morning about the state's "ailing" bridges and roads. I know just in and around Central Massachusetts, there are bridges that have been shut down for a few years (and some bridges that will probably be shut down). The article noted that there are approximately 500 "structurally deficient" bridges throughout the Commonwealth. Yikes!

While the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is "only" $2 billion in debt, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the good ole MBTA) is $8 billion in debt. Ouch.

On a bridge-related note: supposedly the Newburyport-Rockport commuter rail line is "back to normal" service. The T made another round of repairs to the rail bridge that links Beverly to Salem. In news reports, commuter rail riders on this lined were bused at various times to ensure that the bridge repairs could be made.

2009 Massachusetts Fiscal Budget and the MBTA

My company is closed today because of Martin Luther King Day. So I do not have a commuter rail update to share.

However, I thought a post regarding the 2009 Fiscal Budget for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts made this morning the Massachusetts Liberal blog was worth sharing.

In "Massachusetts Liberal: T is for Truth" some excellent points about the MBTA in relationship to the larger state budget were made.

What will be missing from what minimal media attention there might be is a look at one of the largest consumers of state sales tax revenues -- the MBTA -- and how that operation is meeting its public obligations.

Lost amid the hype of CharlieCards and the constant image of Smilin' Dan Grabauskas asking to hear from riders is a deep look at what kind of job the T is doing with our money. It's been one year since fares were raised and I continue to search in vain in the Globe and Herald for signs of what that has meant in terms of revenues and ridership.

If you dig deep enough though, it's there. But the fiscal management of the MBTA should be as much a part of the discussion the state transportation future as the Turnpike Authority and the Big Dig and not hidden away in green eyeshade documents to be used as sleep potions.

The most telling comment:

Yet despite the infusion of more than $50 million in revenue and just a $4 million jump in expenses, the MBTA's operating loss rose to $881,265,000 compared to $879,572,000 the previous year.

The MBTA needs to be held accountable for its budget and it needs to operate this large transportation system in a fiscally responsible manner.

In other news about MBTA mismanagement, The Gloucester Daily Times published an editorial today regarding how the MBTA should have repaired the bridge connecting Rockport and Ipswich in 1984 when the bridge had to be replace. This is crazy!!

Continued Commuter Rail Coverage

Much like the Boston Globe, yesterday's Boston Herald also ran an article about the Commuter Rail.

Boston’s suburban commuter rail service one of least reliable pretty much said everything noted in the Globe.

There was also a post this morning on Boston Now regarding the poor performance.

Any news is good news if it gets the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to issue some changes. I just hope the changes aren't a fare hike.