BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is planning to begin publishing information on areas on its rapid-transit network with speed restrictions because of track and other issues, the Boston Globe reports — a change from a prior stance of non-disclosure that led to sharp criticism during hearings by U.S. senators last year.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the agency is designing a public report on its slow zones and will post the information this spring “including track lengths, speeds, dates, and reasons for restrictions.”
The agency came under fire last fall when, after completing a month-long maintenance shutdown of its Orange Line, monitoring by the advocacy group TransitMatters found travel times on the line were slower than they had been before the work. The MBTA subsequently admitted that it had imposed more slow zones to address problems it found during the shutdown; failure to communicate that information was criticized by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey at a hearing in October [see “FTA has no plans to take over MBTA …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 17, 2022].
Of course MBTA wants to hide its warts. So does every other transit agncy. Time for a national law that any agency that receives any federal funding. Have to disclose many tems monthly.
Slow orders, passenger loads, various financial items, mojor iteams promised delivery time and each delay by builders and the delay leter each time delivery extended. break downs of items shippe and how often it occurs and how many repeats, So, if a series of breakdowns happen to a type of equipment then also that when resolved.
Hopefully this report will also list target dates for completing repairs/maintenance to eliminate each slow zone.