Fund-amental problems with Baker’s DC trip

Gov. Charlie Baker must have one heck of an elevator pitch.

He met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Monday to discuss major transportation projects, including the MBTA and the Cape Cod Canal bridges. As the Boston Herald’s Mary Markos reported, details of their chat weren’t disclosed, but when the topic of transportation arises around Baker, can money be far behind?

He would have lots to regale Secretary Chao with on that front. Especially how, with the FY 2020 budget allocating $698 million for transportation overall, a $1.1 billion sales tax transfer, in addition to $127 million in operating budget support for the MBTA and $90.5 million for Regional Transit Authorities, he also filed an $18 billion transportation bond bill.

To be fair, that bond bill is has bright eyes on the future. About $5.7 billion would go to further modernizing the MBTA, $150 million to improve pavement on state roads, $20 million to ensure municipalities can continue to build “Complete Streets” infrastructure to encourage the public to travel more on foot and bicycle and $70 million for the Municipal Small Bridge Program.

Actually, the public is already encouraged to travel more on foot. When the T breaks down, or derails, or fills with smoke or emits an “uncommon noise,” passengers have to make their way down the tracks, or up the station stairs and across the street to wait for a bus. Every step counts.

Meanwhile, Baker is renewing his call on the state Legislature to approve his request for a full $50 million to invest in the MBTA. The Legislature gave him only $32 million when it was figuring out what to do with the state’s budget surplus last month. Baker wants the whole pie, and the plate as well, requesting the remaining $18 million as part of a $74.2 million supplemental budget bill he filed at the start of the new year.

Better yet, we hope you didn’t chat about the state budget, bond bills and funding, Gov. Baker. They might check your Republican credentials.

We also hope Baker steered clear of safety during his chat with Chao. Hopefully no one on her staff reminded her of last month’s report by the panel of transportation experts that found T safety to be lacking, to put it mildly.

The word “deficiencies” came up a lot. Best to avoid.

If Baker was seeking a federal handout, at least it means he’s not looking at Bay State taxpayer’s pockets (for now). MassDOT CEO Stephanie Pollack has publicly stated that she would rather see the federal government pay to replace both the Bourne and Sagamore bridges on Cape Cod with modern structures that could accommodate more cars. Good luck with that.

Chris Dempsey, director of the advocacy group Transportation for Massachusetts, said, “It’s always good for the governor to meet with federal officials. But anyone following the chaos in D.C. knows we shouldn’t expect the Trump administration or Congress to get their act together anytime soon. Transportation solutions need to come from the state level. The Legislature must act this session to fix our statewide crisis.”

A lot of solutions need to come from the state level. Oversight of public salaries, how the RMV is run, revenue streams that don’t soak the taxpayers and, yes, the MBTA.

Bay Staters don’t particularly care whether the fixes come from the feds or the State House — just start fixing.