Word: mbta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is “critically vulnerable” to a terrorist attack, and the state’s defense efforts are both underfunded and understaffed, according to a report released last month by a joint committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security...
...committee, which was chaired by State Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios ‘90 (D-Cambridge), recommended that significant increases in funding for training, surveillance, and inter-operational communication. It also recommends allocating $5.4 million to hire 100 new officers for the MBTA Transit Police...
...committee reported that the MBTA police force has actually shrunk since 9/11, and that its forces are “far smaller” than those in London in proportion to the city’s population. This decrease in size has happened despite the fact that MBTA expenditures on police wages have increased from $13.2 to $21 million since...
Officials from the MBTA have characterized Barrios’ report as overwrought, pointing out that the T is in the middle of a security initiative to upgrade its surveillance cameras, with 310 installed now and 200 more planned. But we remain unconvinced that enough has been done to make the Boston subway system as secure as it needs to be. We strongly support Barrios in his efforts to appropriate enough money to plug these holes...
Moreover, it’s frightening that Beacon Hill has placed such a low priority on the MBTA that the safety of T riders is in doubt. Whether the current situation has arisen intentionally, it turns our stomachs to see wealthier commuters driving to work on a massively expensive highway system when the MBTA system, which has a ridership largely composed of those in the lower income tax brackets, continues to struggle financially. With a projected $70 million deficit (or 27 percent of its annual operating budget) for the coming fiscal year, the largest debt service of any transit agency...