Literally!
"The job can be so mundane and removed from the action that a Red Line train attendant was recently caught napping in his chair, an act that went unnoticed until managers were handed a cellphone photo taken by a passenger."
Also see: Getting Took By the T
What Your T Ticket Pays For
Turnpike Toll Hikes Going for Manager Bonuses
I'm getting off at the next stop.
"Touching the third rail of transit policy; $30m for second drivers with almost nothing to do" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | June 14, 2009
The job can be so mundane and removed from the action that a Red Line train attendant was recently caught napping in his chair, an act that went unnoticed until managers were handed a cellphone photo taken by a passenger.
Yet the MBTA, deep in debt and considering fare hikes and service reductions, spends about $29.5 million per year to employ a workforce of 386 employees whose jobs were made obsolete decades ago elsewhere, according to a Globe analysis.
"Their primary function is opening and closing doors," said Richard J. Leary, chief of operations for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
I do that for people without getting paid.
Almost every transit system in the United States and Europe runs subways and trolleys with a single driver, automating the second operator's responsibilities. Systems built since the 1970s never even contemplated a second operator; all but a few notable examples built before then have since been retrofitted, relatively cheaply. In Asia and Europe, some transit service runs with no driver at all....
No texting going on anyway, huh?
Despite a safe transition on the Blue Line and 13 years of subsequent experience, the T has converted none of its other lines. The major obstacle is not technical. It's political....
Yup, IT'S MASSACHUSETTS, all right!! I'm HOME!
Related: The Perils of One-Party Politics: Massachusetts' Democracy
The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Ruling Party
The Perils of One-Party Politics: Speaker's Shoes
The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Problem
Stephan G. MacDougall, president of the Carmen's Union that represents subway and trolley operators, said eliminating workers jeopardizes safety without attacking the T's true financial problems, a debt load of more than $8 billion, largely the result of expansion projects mandated by the state, he said....
Oh, I AGREE it's a $30 MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLAR drop in the bucket, but ya' gotta start somewhere.
"This whole post-9/11 behavior at the MBTA has been to kind of abandon safety and visibility of employees, all around the shroud of efficiency and saving money."
EVERYTHING always circles back to THAT DAMN DAY!
And about PAYING OFF that DEBT!
See: The Big Pit
Now you know what the toll hikes are for:
"Plaintiffs count Big Dig a burden; Turnpike users cite $442m tolls" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | June 8, 2009
Massachusetts Turnpike commuters have paid $442 million in tolls to cover Big Dig expenses over the past three years, according to a financial analyst hired as part of a class action lawsuit against the Turnpike Authority.
Commuters, politicians, and state officials have long argued that tolls collected on the turnpike have been used to pay off unrelated portions of the $15 billion project, amounting to a back-door tax that unfairly burdens one segment of the public....
Hey, don't be raising the gas tax around here for some looting boondoggle that was built poorly and killed a woman and which I never use.
--more--"
And the height of chutzpah (these guys really are tone deaf, aren't they?):
"Turnpike attorneys defend toll practices; Commuter lawsuit frivolous, they say" by Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent | June 9, 2009
Lawyers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, in a pretrial hearing yesterday on a class action lawsuit filed by a group of commuters, defended its practice of collecting tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike and distributing that revenue across the state highway system.
That's not what they were doing!
One of the attorneys, Adam Lewis, called the suit, which also targets the Turnpike Authority's use of toll money to pay debts from the Big Dig project, as frivolous....
Jan Schlichtmann - lead attorney for the Massachusetts Turnpike Toll Equity Trust, which filed the lawsuit - wants the Turnpike Authority to give $300 million in rebates to drivers who pay turnpike tolls. The trust is made up of about 1,700 motorists from Massachusetts and out of state.
"The first hurdle is that, even if you prevail, the defendant is not likely to be able to pay," Judge Herman Smith said in response. "This is Massachusetts; I think we have only a dollar or two."
--more--"Need money?
I know just where to look:
Governor Guts State ServicesPigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
How many times I gotta put 'em up?
