A report on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) indicates the need for a fiscal control board and outlines a plan of action in order to improve the authority's performance, Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday.
Baker released the report and action plan that was compiled by a panel of national transportation, municipal planning and economic development experts. The panel's findings indicated an unstable budget for operation, ongoing underinvestment, shortsighted expansion programs, inefficiency in the workplace and an overall lack of accountability.
“Massachusetts deserves a reliable, well-managed, cost effective transportation system, and this in-depth report offers a plan of action to responsibly pursue organizational and operational reforms to reach this goal,” Baker said. “Thanks to the hard work of the panel members, we have action items to improve service reliability, correct the failures that would bankrupt the MBTA if left unchecked and rescue the transportation system our economy relies upon.”
Key recommendations from the panel include the creation of a five-member fiscal control board and increasing the revenue generation ability of MBTA through fares and other financial sources. The panel also suggested that customer-centric practices should be adopted and that budget firewalls be constructed in order to provide the groundwork for multiyear plans to be formulated.
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