MBTA on track to restore service
No timeline given
MBTA officials said they are on track to restore bus, train, ferry and commuter rail service to pre-pandemic levels “as soon as possible,” but still left transit riders and advocates in the dark on the details.
“We are bringing back service as fast as we possibly can on bus and subway with the goal of getting to 100% of pre-COVID service levels,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said during a Monday meeting of the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board.
The board voted 3-0 to restore subway and bus service to pre-pandemic levels, resume weekend commuter rail service on the nine lines where it was suspended, and resume ferry trips but offered no specific timeline.
The vote leaves T riders and workers with a case of collective whiplash after Poftak last week bent to rising pressure from federal lawmakers and transit advocates and agreed to backtrack on a set of sweeping cuts to the state’s transit system. Public opposition to the cuts approved in December reached a boiling point this month when it became clear the transit system was on track to receive hundreds of millions more in federal aid from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
In a statement following the meeting, the Transit is Essential Coalition praised the Monday vote as “steps in the right direction.”
But the Public Transit Public Good Coalition — which represents T workers and riders — said in a statement, “We remain concerned regarding the pace of service restoration and call on the MBTA to ensure that full funding is used to restore cuts as quickly as possible. It is disappointing that the MBTA has not been able to say with certainty when or whether all nine suspended bus lines will be reinstated.”
During a rally outside the state transportation building Monday morning acting Mayor Kim Janey said, “Now more than ever, Boston needs a transit system that works for everyone. The people who stock our groceries, clean our schools and staff our hospitals rely on buses and trains to get to work. We count on essential workers to get us through this pandemic, and essential workers count on public transportation.”
Poftak during Monday’s meeting described a “much different landscape” than when the cuts went into place and said the agency expects to receive at least $845 million from the American Rescue Plan on top of the $1.1 billion the MBTA received in prior federal stimulus packages.
Ridership plummeted amid the pandemic and is still hovering around 30% of pre-pandemic levels, causing T managers to cut costs and plug predicted budget gaps with stimulus funds. Two weeks ago, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch called the strategy an “anathema” to the will of Congress and the T quickly changed course.
MBTA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara also unveiled a rosier financial picture, without any budget shortfalls in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023. Previous estimates had yearly gaps totaling nearly $1.8 billion through 2026, but now pinpoint $203 million shortfalls in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025.