Safety compliance on the T is costing a pretty penny
Agency: $378M not enough!
The department head tasked with overseeing compliance of federal safety directives said the MBTA needs more money than the $378 million allocated for that purpose through last year’s state budget.
The T spent $90.9 million of those one-time state funds by the end of the second quarter in December, to address eight special directives issued as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s safety management inspection, said Katie Choe, chief of quality, compliance and oversight.
“I think we will need more, but I can’t tell you how much more and it does depend on where we draw the box,” Choe said Thursday at a safety subcommittee meeting. “For instance, are we going to say all track maintenance that we do moving forward qualifies as an FTA special directive response, or is it only certain things?
“So, there’s some element of figuring out what we want to consider a qualifying expense for FTA special directive response, versus sort of standard business for the MBTA.”
According to Choe’s presentation, the funds expended in fiscal year 2023 did not go toward previously budgeted work; new positions posted, but not yet hired; or encumbered contracts to be spent.
Gov. Maura Healey said earlier this month that her proposed state budget does not include funds to hire 1,000 new MBTA workers, as promised in her inaugural address, because the money already exists in the T’s budget, through last year’s $378 million appropriation.
Instead, her upcoming supplemental budget proposal will include funds for “new hiring and training support” to help the MBTA fill those positions, to address workforce shortages cited by the feds, according to a state budget overview.
At a Thursday finance subcommittee meeting, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara asked for guidance on how many positions should be added to the MBTA’s fiscal year 2024 budget.
The FY23 budgeted headcount is 6,679 positions, but as of February, the T’s workforce was 5,591 employees, meaning there were 1,088 vacancies, according to a budget presentation.
O’Hara recommended an FY24 budgeted headcount of 7,404 to 7,779 positions, roughly 2,000 more than the T’s current workforce.
An additional 450 to 650 hires are needed to comply with FTA directives, along with 100 to 150 more for safety and training beyond the scope of those federal orders.
The remaining 175 to 300 new hires are needed for programmatic initiatives, including bus network redesign, the Green Line Extension, and fare transformation, according to the T’s FY24 budget overview.
MBTA board member Scott Darling said that if Choe needs more funding to comply with federal directives, she should come forward with a request soon, “rather than wait until the last moment because we may not be able to do anything for you.”
“We are tracking this closely and projecting forward, and we’re working with our finance department to make sure everything is fully integrated into the budget requests, both on the capital and the operating side, and into future projections for additional funding needs,” Choe said.
The lion’s share of the T’s federal directive spending so far, or $75.84 million, has gone toward addressing a delayed track maintenance directive, according to Choe’s presentation.
Part of this spending was aimed at addressing “red” or “priority one” track conditions, which the Department of Public Utilities, the T’s state safety oversight authority, flagged as a violation following a Red Line track inspection last Monday.
The negative findings prompted MBTA Interim General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville to implement a systemwide 10-25 mph speed restriction on Thursday evening, after the T was unable to produce proper documentation to support the results of a February track inspection.
Incomplete and missing paperwork made it unclear where track repairs were needed, or if they had already been made, prompting systemwide safety concerns, Gonneville said at a Friday press conference.
This “global” restriction was lifted on the Red, Blue and Orange Lines Friday morning, but speeds remained capped at 25 mph on the Mattapan and Green Lines as of Saturday evening.
“Nothing has changed since yesterday,” MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said on Saturday. “Same level of restrictions remain in place.”