T troubles pose opportunity for transit entrepreneurs

Attention public transit entrepreneurs and innovators: MBTA customers are up for grabs.

The T’s trainload of troubles continues to roll on — slowly. Each week brings one or more stories of accidents, service shutdowns, power outages, or subway cars falling off things (tracks or delivery trucks). Is it any wonder that T ridership hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels?

As State House News reported, while bus and commuter rail networks performing better than the system as a whole and drivers returning to the roads, total ridership remains only a bit more than half of pre-pandemic levels.

T officials acknowledge that ridership dip was in part the fallout of service disruptions and a month-long Orange Line shutdown. MBTA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara rang the alarm during a subcommittee meeting Thursday: “If actual fare revenue growth does not keep pace with the growth assumed in the established fare revenue scenarios, there’s a risk fare revenue collections could dip below even the lowest projections.”

Passengers giving the T a pass will do that.

Betsy Taylor, chair of the MBTA board of directors and its audit and finance subcommittee noted, “I personally think that where we are is the new normal.”

The new normal is not good, for the T nor its riders.

The transit agency is wading through corrective action plans put forth by the Federal Transit Administration to address problems found during a probe. T officials said Thursday that it closed out one on the to-do list. There are 37 more to go.

That’s not likely to entice riders to top up their Charlie cards.

As the Herald reported, the T also added 39 new speed restrictions last month, making the already-slow subway system even slower with 83 speed restrictions covering 10 miles of track. Good luck making it to work — or anywhere — on time.

Stacy Thompson, LivableStreets executive director, said she expects slow zones to persist for a “couple of years” across many different lines.

Letting riders know about the slow zones is a plus for transparency, but it’s no wonder that these persistent slow zones are deterring some from taking the T as often as they used to.

The MBTA’s morass presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs with savvy transit solutions. Remember Bridj, the ondemand shuttle service?

It offered bus routes based on rider demand. Passengers could hail the bus via app and reserve a seat. It shut down in 2017, due in part to a lack of capital and a surfeit of other ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.

That was before T trains went all in on derailments, fires and other commute-choking incidents.

Today, Massachusetts is mulling congestion pricing in a bid to cut down on traffic, which could have drivers rethinking their commute on Boston streets. It could also impact the cost of an Uber or Lyft ride.

But if transit innovators such as Bridj or another company were to launch a public transit alternative in this environment, it’s likely they’d find a receptive audience.

The T would be driving the customer base — and they’d have themselves to blame.