Local input sought on MBTA’s board
Sen. Collins’ bill would create city seat
A bill on Beacon Hill would expand the MBTA’s oversight board and add a seat appointed by the mayor of Boston.
“The city’s agenda would have a higher priority,” said state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat who introduced the bill. “The city should be at the table to make sure we’re on the same page.”
The bill is fairly simple in the scheme of state legislation; the only changes it would make revolve around the composition of the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, which oversees the transit agency’s budget and policies.
Collins’ proposal would expand the board from five members to seven, with six being appointed by the governor. Those seats would include one person with experience in mass transit administration, one in transportation finance and one who’s an official of a city or town in the MBTA’s service area. The final seat would be appointed by the mayor of Boston, and only could be dismissed by the mayor.
Gov. Charlie Baker created the FMCB after the disastrous winter of 2015, when a series of severe winter storms ground the subway to a literal halt. The board is widely credited with overseeing budgetary and administrative reforms, but various advocates want to see different interests represented on future versions of it. The board was due to expire last summer and was the subject of broad speculation before the pandemic sucked the legislative air out of the room and the state essentially continued it in its existing form.
“It’s important that the mayor of Boston have a seat on the board,” Collins told the Herald. “We’ve seen that when they work together and the seats at the table are there, they really make better decisions.” Collins, who represents South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park, cited recent bus infrastructure improvements and the increased service on the Fairmount Line.
City Councilor Ed Flynn is introducing a resolution this week in support of the bill. “Sen. Collins’ legislation is a powerful way to ensure the City of Boston has the influence it deserves when it comes to transportation planning and service delivery at the MBTA,” Flynn told the Herald. “That’s why I filed this resolution and I hope it passes swiftly.”
The idea of a Boston seat has floated around for years. Mayor Martin Walsh and various city councilors have long supported such an idea, citing the fact that Boston chips in more than $80 million a year toward the T’s budget but has little direct say in operations.
Collins is said to be mulling a run for mayor. He declined to comment on that this week.