November 21, 2024 • 38 mins
Back in 2023, during a changing of the guard at the MBTA, general manager Phil Eng set a plan in motion to eliminate 191 subway speed restrictions or slow zones by the end of 2024. Flash forward to now, as we near the end of 2024, there are currently only four remaining speed restrictions. However, the MBTA released a report today saying come next Monday, there will be no more Red Line slow zones. Brian Kane, the Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board joined us to discuss the latest at the MBTA!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Koston's new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, thanks very much, Dan Watkins. As we move
into the tenant the nine o'clock hour here, I don't
get ahead of myself here, I am delighted to join
by to be joined by Brian Kane, the executive Director
of the MBTA Advisory Board. Brian, there's probably a little
confusion here, so let's clarify things. What is the MBTA
Advisory Board and as the executive director, what is your
(00:29):
role in terms of either how the tea operates or
how the people who operate the tea behave.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well. Dan, firstly, thank you very much for having me
on Night Side. It's a real honor to be on
your airwaves. Thank you very much. So. The NBTA Advisory
Board was created in nineteen forty seven, at the same
time the Metropolitan Transit Authority was created. We represent one
hundred and seventy eight cities and towns that receive MBTA
service or are next to a town that receives MBTA
(00:58):
service via the station, and we have a statutory obligation
to oversee the t's operating capital budgets, fair service policy,
and we maintained very close links with the team management
to try to keep them Monistan.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah. So, so you are in effect a representative of
the towns. But in addition, you're a representative of the
patrons of the m b t A. That's you know,
you're not employed by the MVTA.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We talked, Sorry, Dan, go ahead, I'm so.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Go ahead if I misspoke? What did I What did
you want to say?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
No? Sorry, I was going to say, I do not
work for the governor. I do not work for the legislature,
and I do not work for the t I work
for the cities and towns and their citizens.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Gotcha, No, absolutely, absolutely. Now, there was some news today
that you probably have heard of our newscast that the
number of slowed zones have been have been reduced dramatically.
I guess there's only slow zones left on the green
line or in parts of the green line. What caused
(02:05):
the slow zones? I assume it was problems with the
tracks for lack of maintenance or maintenance that had fallen behind.
Just for those who do not know the genesis of
slow zones, you can explain it much better than I can,
and I appreciate it if you would.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well. So a slow zone is a safety measure. So
if there are any defects on the track, like a
cracked rail or a broken sleeper, which is the sort
of piece of wood in between the two pieces of
iron that make a train track, there's any kind of
a problem there, or even a problem with the overhead wires,
what they'll do is they'll put in a slow zone,
(02:42):
which is a ten mile per hour speed restriction, and
that means for however long of a length of track
that slow zone is in place, the train can only
travel at ten miles per hour. Now, these things usually
or should get fixed every so often, but the t
forvariety of reasons, including lack of resources and the fact
(03:03):
that when they were trying to do this stuff overnight
they didn't have a lot of time, was not able
to get to them until some of these slow zones
were in place for years. And as your newscast referred
to the Triple Crown, I like that what Phil Lang
has done. The new general manager has gone in and
really put a real emphasis on this, and through a
(03:24):
variety of shutting down the system, they've gotten rid of
all the slow zones as well, except for four that
are left on the green line, and the GM has
promised that they will be eliminated by the end of
this calendar year.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Now, I assume that the slow zones are an industry
standard or is it a self imposed restriction of limitation
that the TEA has placed upon itself.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, it was really done out of an abundance of
caution and for safety. So the idea is that if
the train is going ten miles an hour, it's less
likely to derail or have any thing bad happened to it.
And chances are it could have gone faster over that
piece of track, but out of an bumpet pecaution, they
just made it go slow. And this is very common
(04:09):
in the railroad industry across the country in a public
transportation system. What wasn't common, Dan is the fact that
t had so many of them and that it took
so long.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I assume that was delayed maintenance, that the TEA
probably over time before you arrived and before phil Ang arrived.
That people said, well, we'll save a little bit in
the budget here. But what I'm saying is it was
it wasn't imposed by some government agency. It was something
that the MBTA recognized and did it for passenger safety
(04:41):
for which they should be commended. Okay, So one of
the issues that we deal with the tea and if
anyone has any questions about the MBTA, Brian Kana be
happy to talk to you and try to address those issues.
I'll be honest with you. I tend to ride the
Tea very infrequently, although when I have been in a
(05:03):
situation where I've driven where I've ridden the Tea occasionally,
It's worked fine for me. But I'm not commuting five
days a week on the MBTA as so many of
my listeners and so many people are you mentioned today
to me that you know that it's what two dollars
(05:25):
and seventy cents to ride the Tea at the regular rate,
And if you're going from one of the you know,
near in Boston suburbs, that's not bad when you think
about it. If you had to drive your car, and
not only did you have to deal with the traffic
that all of us are familiar with, but in addition
(05:46):
to that, you're going to have to park your car somewhere.
So if you begin to look at it like that,
it starts to look like a pretty good financial decision.
You know, for most people who need to get in
and get out of Boston on a day to day basis,
which leads me to my question, and that is, with
the slow zones now slowly but surely having been eliminated,
(06:10):
the number having been diminished, has TE ridership had a spike?
Whe's Where's where's t ridership at this point?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sure? Dan, So, first of all, I misspoke earlier to
your producer, and it's two dollars and forty cents for
a one way fair. It's one seventy for a bus fare.
So my apologies for that. That was my mistake. Ridership
is coming back. It certainly is back on commuter rail,
which has not had these sort of shutdowns to do
(06:40):
this track maintenance this year. So the MBTA's contractor, Kiolis
tells us that their ridership return rate is the best
in the United States. In other words, more people are
coming back to the MBTA commuter rail than any other
commuter rail system in the cunt and that's very good news.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And I assume that that refers to both pre and
post COVID.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yes. Yes, In fact, they tell us that in many
cases there their ridership now is above pre COVID levels
on some commuter allies. One thing they've noticed though, is
it's a different kind of ridership. It's not the five
day a week folks buying their those monthly passes like
(07:27):
which used to happen. It's folks going on a Saturday.
They have the tea is a great program. For ten bucks,
you and up to two kids under the age of
twelve can ride for free. So it's a great deal.
It's called a family Fair and they've had a lot
of ridership, take a lot of ridership uptake, and it's
caused their total ridership numbers to come way up.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'd never heard of that, and I listened a lot
during the day. Did they advertise that? Seriously? That's that's
the best deal in town. You know, a parent of
mom or dad can take a couple of it's in
or out of Boston for free on a Saturday. You're
going to visit the Children's Museum of the Science Museum.
That's that's terrific.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, it's all weekend actually, so you can even use
it the following day if you go on a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah. But what I'm what I'm saying is that the
pr people got to get on the stick here and
get that word out. I was unaware of that.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Okay, yeah, they should advertise on nightside then.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well yeah, but no, but they should advertise a whole
bunch of places, because that to me sounds really fabulous.
But anyway, so let's take a quick break here. I
want to invite callers to call. This is an opportunity
for you to raise questions. I've got a lot to
talk about. We want to talk about the debt. How
the MVT is going to dig themselves out of this
(08:46):
this debt, How much of a deficit they'll have even
this year is impossible? Is there any projection that it
might break even some year? We get to all of that,
everything you want to know about the MVTA. We talk
about safety. The T had a spate of problems. You know,
whether or not it was a staircase that would collapse,
(09:07):
or whether or not a train would catch fire over
the Mystic River and you'd end up people seeing somebody
jumping off of train tracks into the water. All of
us remember, those are the images that are indelibly etched
in our mind. And the MBTA can improve, and they
apparently have improved based upon what we're here tonight. But
(09:28):
they got to let people know it's improved, and they
got to let people know that it is safe and
get this MBTA back in the organization which in operation,
which in turn will lessen the number of people are
out on the roads coming in on a daily basis
or even coming in during weekends. If you want to
talk with Brian Kane, he's the executive director of the
(09:50):
MBTA Advisory Board. It's a very important board and it's
a very important position. You can talk directly with him
at six point seven two five four ten or six
one seven nine ten thirty. And if you have a
constructive comment or suggestion, we'd love that as well, particularly
if you're somebody who utilizes the NBTA. We'll be back
(10:10):
on Nightside with more conversation with Brian Kine, executive director
of the MBTA Advisory Board, right after these few messages.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Radio with us is Brian Kane. Brian, let's talk a
little bit of money here. The tea has always been
in debt, or at least during my lifetime. Uh And
right now you mentioned to me earlier that they're carrying
about five and a half billion dollars in debt. That's
(10:45):
about ten percent just to put in perspective of an
annual Massachusetts budget. That debt has come down a little
bit recently, but they have about five hundred billion dollar
debt service, which is interest on the debt. I mean
they're servicing the debt of half a billion dollars a year,
(11:08):
and that is more money that the t earns during
an entire year. Is this hole a hole that the
MBTA will ever dig out of or can ever dig
out of?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
In European Well, I don't know if they can ever
dig out of it, then probably not, But I can't
tell you that they have. They and their predecessor agencies
going all the way back to nineteen eighteen have always
been in debt, and that debt has always been a
millstone around the necks of those transportation agencies. We just
(11:44):
have a new report come out called Always Broke, and
it looks like the history of governing and financing the
MBTA since nineteen eighteen. And the thing that we discovered
is ever since public control started right around World War One,
this debt has been a problem that that the public
transportation systems here have never been able to get out.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
From under of Now did you did the advisory board
author that report?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I wrote it for the Advisory Board, which voted to
accept it at its meeting last week.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And that is your second report that you have authored,
as I understand it. Correct.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah. In two thousand and nine, when I was first
starting out in this field, I wrote a report called
Born Broke, which for the first time looked at the
effect of the sort of so called big big debt
on the MBTA's finances and really put that into the
public realm for the first time. So the.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
MVTA, with seventy five hundred employees, that has to be
one of the biggest employers in the state, or it
has to be right up there in the top ten
at big employers in the state.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Correct, Yes, I imagine it is.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yes, Okay. So with and you've got pension issues that
go back decades where people were able to retire after
twenty years, and there were individuals who retired after twenty
years and then took a job in team management, some
very high profile cases. It really ran wild in particularly
(13:25):
after sixties, seventies and eighties, in terms of spending, and
it seems to me that that is where the problem
really mounted. Or am I missing something?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I think you're right, Dan. I think the problem has
been when sort of political patronage gets involved and the
NBTA gets away from its mission of moving the people
of Massachusetts around the region on buses and trains and
ferries and other types of vehicles, and it becomes a
political dumping ground. I mean, that's when they start to
(13:59):
get into money, quite frankly. And I'm not sure what
the solution is, but we need to sort of get
this thing up on its seat and then kind of
get the politicians to butt out, quite frankly and let
the managers run it.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah. I mean there was a long time where the
acronym MBTA did not represent for in the minds of
many people, as the three Masters of Bay Transportation Authority
was mister Bulger's transportation agency, I guess. And there were
a lot of people who were close to the then
(14:36):
Senate President who were picking up jobs. We'll leave that.
We'll leave that for another time, for another night. Let's
let's get some callers in here. Let me start off
with RITA in East Boston. Reta, You called in early,
and I'm more than happy to accommodate you. Before the
nine thirty news around with Brian Kane, we're talking about
the NBTA reader. What question do you comment? Do you
have for Brian Kane?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
No, I just wanted to say, first, thank you for
taking my call, and then I want to say, is
it even possible to run a public transit that doesn't
have like a deficit?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Because I just think.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's the cost. The cost of having it is very
important because if you start to reduce it and you
start to take away features, that affects the population, which
in turn I think would be then a bigger burden
because then they'd have to try to live close to
the city or wherever they work. Is it ever possible
to never mind a deficit, but to ever just run
it as sort of a break even? Are there transit
(15:32):
systems in the area that can do that? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Stay right there, we'll get we'll get an answer for you.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Well, thank you. Rita. Yeah, and so the answer is no.
The only two that I'm aware of are in Singapore
and Hong Kong, and those have a bit of a
different government structure, shall we say, But in North America, Europe.
None of them operate without government subsidies. This is a
public good that we all benefit from and we all
(16:01):
contribute towards it. A little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Rider to get a follow up or does that do
it for you?
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, that does it for me on that issue, but
we'll talk about specific lines on another call.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Okay, thanks Verder, appreciate your call. Yeah, how do we do?
Everybody knows the Bay Area rail transportation system in San Francisco,
New York, the Metro in Washington. Is there any way
to compare the public transportation systems in other cities Philadelphia, Boston, wherever?
(16:41):
Or is it just impossible? They're all so different.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I mean, they're all very different, but they all do
receive some federal money to help with their infrastructure, and
so because of that, they all have to report the
same information to the federal government. There is an organization
but that Yes, it's they called the National Transit Database,
which compares all of them across the whole country with
(17:05):
the same measures. So yeah, it's quite possible to compare
how each one is doing. Right now, the best performing
system is the Washington DC Metro, which is actually run
by a former NBTA guy Randy Clark, and they're doing
very well. They were in real trouble a couple of
years ago, very similar to what the trouble the TEA
(17:27):
was in with the federal government, and they've come out
of that and now ridership is back in many ways
and they're doing a lot better.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well. I assume that of all the transportation systems, Washington,
probably because it is Washington, has a lot more federal
moneies available to it than Boston, New York, Chicago, and
San Francisco or any other major city.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Would it. Sure does? It, Sure does. I mean there's
also a lot newer than certainly what we have in
Boston or Philadelphia, Chicago or New York City. Like you mentioned, Ye, that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
System was built, I believe, particularly the underground aspect, in
the late sixties and into the seventies. Am I right
or wrong on that?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I think that's right then, Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I had a buddy of mine who had been a
major league pitcher who you know, in those days, they
didn't make a lot of money, and his post career
job was digging tunnels for the Washington DC metro system. Well,
maybe probably not as glorious a job but it was
regular pay and for several years. Brian Kane is my guest.
(18:36):
He's the MBTA, he's the executive director of the MBTA
Advisory Board. He knows all things MBTA. He's been in
this post since twenty eighteen. I think he's doing a
great job. Happens to be one of my favorite guests
because whatever question you ask him, he will give you
an honest answer. There's no political veneer with Brian. It's
(18:57):
straightforward answer. So if you're an MBTA rider and you
got a question, or you cite or you perhaps want
to recommend something that could make it better, this is
the person to talk to. You wouldn't get him between
nine to five during the week because frankly he's too busy,
But we got him tonight and he's available to you
at six, one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, six, one, seven, nine, three, one,
(19:18):
ten thirty. Those are the numbers. And even if you
want to make a complaint, if you've had a good
experience on the tea recently, or if you have a
good experience regularly, I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.
From the conversely, you've had a bad experience and you'd
like to, you know, get it off your chest. Now's
the time to do it. Coming back on Nightside right
after the News at the bottom of the hour with
(19:38):
Brian kin the executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board.
And for those of you who don't understand, uh, necessarily
what the advisory Board does, will recap that for you.
And they have a tremendous amount of influence over the MBTA,
representing the one hundred and seventy eight cities and towns
that has some level of service from the MBTA here
in eastern Massachusetts. Back on night Side, more phone calls
(20:01):
coming up right after this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It's night Side, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Fact with Brian Kane, the executive director since twenty eighteen,
so he's been there a while, the executive director of
the MBTA Advisory Board, and I find him to be
extremely refreshing. It is difficult for us, Brian, just to
make a point, it's so difficult for us to get
any representative of the MBTA to come on this talk show.
(20:32):
And the reason for that is I think the public
relations people at the MBTA, their their job is to
protect the leadership of the TEA, whether it's Phil Ang
or someone else from from talking to just te Riders.
To me, it's absolutely insane. And I don't know if
(20:54):
you ever want to raise that with Ang for us,
but love to have him on talk about his accomplishments.
But the PR department there is intentionally, in my opinion,
obstructive to us at any time that we try to
get them, even even on you know, to say hey, look,
we just want to come on and talk about your
successors they have. It's it's it's very difficult. So I
(21:16):
just mentioned that. And the contrast is you're ail your
a willingness to come on at the end of a
long day. This is a full time job for you.
This is not some ceremonial job. This is a full
time job that you work at. So let's let's keep
going here with our questions and give people an opportunity
(21:37):
to talk with you. My next call is from Tom
in Boston. Tom, you are on with Brian Kane, the
executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board. Whatever commented question
you'd like to make a right ahead.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Tom, Yeah, then great topic, Brian, Thanks for being there.
I am a long term PE writer. I did six
years of high school where I did the a bust
the red line in the green line, and that was
that was entertaining. And then they did twenty five years
(22:11):
on the commuter rail and that was a pleasure. But
recently I've done that.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
The first comment was somewhat sarcastic. I think I picked
up a note of sedcasting the first part of the comment.
So we'll let that one go.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And I like the idea.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Go ahead talk recently going going to the Red Sox.
If I if I take the commuter rail over to
Back Bay, they have a transfer to the train going
to Yackey Way, and you just transfer and you go
to Frienway parking, no parking fees. It's fantastic. It's time
(22:52):
perfectly for the game. But the other the other car
i'd maker is when I go into Boston now and
I'm in the express lane, the hother lane, and I
look over at the traffic. I scratched my head and say,
why would anybody drive into the city and pay for parking?
(23:14):
And now we have bike lanes and all these altar
I say, take the team.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Well, thanks, Tom, And you're right. There are other shuttle
buses not only from Back Bay station, but also from
Ruggle Station. The folks are coming in on some of
those other lines that might go to Ruggles. There's a
free bus from there too.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Mm hm.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Can you talk about tom when you talk about driving
in and the dedicated I think you called it the
hover line. My question is do you have another person
in that car or is that a blow up doll
that that city? I got normally the car right.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
Normally we do. But I have heard about other people
not having two people.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I'm only.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
One of the plug. One of the plug is I've
gotten now that I'm retired, I've gotten to enjoy the
commute of boats and we've actually not created Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Are they running all you guys? Are they running all year?
Are they still seasonal or what's what's the deal on those?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So some of them run year round, then the Lynn
Ferry because it has to sort of go out into
a little bit more of the open ocean, and the
Salem Ferry because for the same reason, they will be
ending very soon if they haven't already ended. But the
ones that stay sort of in the inner harbor, sort
of the this side of hull in Winthrope, they'll run
year round unless there's there's ice, or unless the Coastguard
(24:49):
tells them not to, so they hang them. The Hall
East Boston and Charlestown ferries are year round. They're fantastic.
The people that take them love them, and they serve.
They serve a few drinks there at the end of
the day. If that's your If that's your.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Choice, okay. On the return trip, not going in in
the morning, that's important as well, Hey, Tom.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
One of the go ahead.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
One other comment. You mentioned mister Dougherty a little while ago.
I think in your Civics class he told me about
the intersection of massav and Huntington AB all the utilities
that are there in the subway system. You know, the
Boston subway system is how many years old? One hundred
(25:37):
and fifty? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
What. Yeah, eighteen ninety seven, Wow, I thought, okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Was that the same mister Dougherty that I referred to
by by chance?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yes, I love Charlestown.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Was he Chilestown?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I'm not sure he's from. I had him as a
ninth grade Civics teacher with Boston Latin School. Did you
go to Latin School?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I had him for history, but he was so entertained. Yeah,
and I used to see him. I used to see
him waiting at park streets for the trolleys that were
running a little bit late.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Tom, You've been a very enjoyable caller for me, humorous,
you brought your a game and uh and I think
Brian enjoyed it as well because there was nary a
criticism here.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Absolutely, thanks, thanks.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Thanks Tom. Talk to you soon if we go to
Bill in Norfolk, Massachusetts. Bill, you're next on NICEID with
Brian Kane, m BT, a Advisory board executive director.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
Hey Dan, I also had Dolreaty and Civics ninth grade
a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
How about this is the small world here? This is I.
Speaker 8 (26:48):
Know he was, he was great.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
But I have something unusual here. I have praise for
the n b T and a question. Okay, good, good.
The first praise is I volunteer for the Red and
we have a great relationship with the MBTA, And I
tell you anytime we need them, we call them. They
help us out. Just two quick stories. I did a
(27:10):
big fire in Hull. I had about twenty displaced in
a boarding house and we we got them hotels, you know,
like ten miles away, so we had to get them there.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
Nobody had a car.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
One phone call.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
The teed buses there. I was actually emotional when I
saw that TEA bus show up. We did a big
fire in Randolph earlier this year. We had sixty displaced.
One phone called in the MBTA.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
They had two buses there for me and it was cold, so.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
We had to get people, you know, into the tee.
But that's the praise. My only question is I had
a buddy.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
We did twenty years in the MBTA, and you know
he got there early.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
He the way you carried. When you said I had
a buddy who did twenty years, I wasn't thinking about
the NBTA. He worked for the NBA.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
He worked, but he got a pension.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Dan he was forty two.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
He's got a full at forty two. Is that still happening, guys?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So no, I mean it's still it's still very a
very very good deal. And let me see if I
can briefly explain. So they have a pension system that
goes back in pre day social security was negotiated back
in the nineteen teams and it's still in existence. The
deal is, if you go to work for the tea.
(28:27):
You cannot get any money out of the system unless
you're there. It used to be twenty three years, now
is twenty five years in a lot of cases in
the private sector, even if you work for the state,
if you do ten years, you can get some money
out to tee. The deal is you have to do
twenty five before you can get a dime out. But
once you do twenty five, you can get eighty percent
of your highest three earning years. And that's and that's
(28:50):
the pension system. Back in the day, folks used to like,
like your friends would start working there and there at
twenty at forty three, they'd be out. They pull their
pension and then go get another job.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
And he retired twenty years after in another place.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
He had a pretty good deal.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's a good deal. It's also eligible for Social Security.
I mean, it's a real good deal. The only thing
I'll say, and again I'm not justifying it. I'm not
defending it. I don't I'm not in it. You know,
those whatever they get when they retire tends to be
what they get for the rest of their retirement, so
it doesn't really go up very often. There's not the
cost of willing increases that are automatic, Okay, but yeah
(29:31):
it is. It's something that probably should get looked at. Well.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
The other fact taking that and I don't I don't
want to defend it because I was as outraged as
anybody is that if that pension program was instituted in
the nineteen teens, nineteen fifteen or whatever, the life expectancy
of the people who are working in the NATA, and
you know that era they had been born in the
(29:57):
eighteenth century, in their life expectancy probably was fifty five
fifty six, fifty seven from an actual aerial basis. If that, uh,
and as that system did not adjust over time, that's
when you had the people who were retiring at forty
two after twenty years. And then was we're able to
tack on a second job and in some cases a
(30:19):
second job with the MBTA by the way, really.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Aware of that, yeah, or a contractor or a vendor,
you know that, right? That's yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I mean I think there was one guy who ended
up being uh, the general general manager after having worked
in the T If I'm not mistaken. I don't want
to mention the name that I think because I don't
want to make a mistake, but I think it is
even that was one of the more outrageous cases in
my opinion. But Bill, you you raise great points. I
thank you so much for your.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
Call and bring that message back to the Red Cross.
I really appreciate it to what you guys do for us.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Thanks, sure, Brian will bring that back absolutely. Thank you, Bill,
and by the way, thank you. As a Latin School alum,
assume is PREMI to be involved in some of the
programs that you were involved in as a volunteer. I
don't want to ask you what year you graduated, but
just tell me who your head master was when you're graduating.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I'll be able to figure out doctor Leary.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Okay, Okay, I got I get a pretty good idea.
We might have been classic.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
I'm right behind you, brother, I'm right behind you.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Thanks. Bill, you're doing that. You're doing aid school problem.
Thank you much appreciate it. Okay, Well take quick break.
My guess is Brian Kane. Brian, you've had an easy
ride tonight. You've got some really good response and we'll
keep it up. We've got room for a couple more
six one seven thirty or six one seven, nine three
thirty coming back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
My guess, Brian Kane is the executive director of the
MBTA Advisory Board. We've talked about the tea. Now for
this hour, we'll take another call at least if you'd
like to jump on board if you got a question criticism.
I think you've had a pretty good night here, no
criticisms and mostly lawn its. Let's see what Sachi in
Saugus has to say. Sachi, you are next on night
(32:18):
Sign with Brian Kine, Executive Director, Sachi of the MBTA
Advisory Board. Satu, you go right ahead.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
Yes, I have a couple of small questions that MBTA
is one of the law actually not. It's the largest
landowner in the entire state of mass and there's so
much a land that is not being used by MBTA,
and there's like kind of abandoned and finally they just
(32:51):
realized and they you know, they leased it for ninety
nine years lease for the bike bad and for an example,
Lane Lynn, and they never finished the bike back and
they're homeless shelter tents and they as needles and so on.
(33:14):
So what MBTA is planning to do with the cities
that they are not doing their job to complete the
bike path and get all these tents out.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So a good question, sat. So, I don't know the
exact details of that particular piece of property, but if
it's been leased for ninety nine years, it's probably been
leased to a third party. I don't know if it's
the City of wind or if it's a nonprofit.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
The responsibility for get cleaning up the needles and getting
rid of the homeless encampments is up to the lease holder.
So when the NBTA sort of leases it, it sort
of says, now you're you're in charge. Uh. There are
some there are some exceptions, and maybe the t is
responsible for this particular one. I'm not sure this particular case,
but you know what, let me let me take that.
(34:03):
I'll see if I can find out if the is responsible.
I'll talk to some folks tomorrow and if it's the case,
I'll encourage them to get out there.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, where where is the satchi satchi? Where exactly is
the location so that you can help Brian Lynn.
Speaker 9 (34:21):
Right past Bennett Street Bridge, it's going all of it
to the live NBT a line and it comes to
a dead end in Lynn And you said you.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Just did I hear you?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You said Bennett Street.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Bridge Bennett Bennett Street.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Okay, good well look and the thing is.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
If you actually look at it, I have a land
right next to it, and I have a bear that
you know, stop the bear that a long time ago.
If you google it on the bike path, that's a
fast end, you know, end up my property. And after
that it's all They didn't do nothing and just random
(35:07):
people just pretense.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yeah, SATCHI let's do this. Sat listen to me for
second place.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Yes, I want you to leave your number with Rob,
and Rob will give your number to Brian and I
guarantee you that Brian will look into it and he
will get back to you with some information.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I just I don't want to leave your hanging.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Okay, Oh no, no, the problem.
Speaker 9 (35:30):
And I have one more question besides that.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, if you could be quick, I got another caller
who I'd like to accommodate.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I'd like something quick.
Speaker 9 (35:39):
That's the MBTA police still exist or did they change
it to transit priest just for the federal funding. So
we must save some money over there.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
No.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Transit Police still exists. They have jurisdiction in all one
hundred and seventy eight communities and they're still I know
they've had trouble recruiting SAT.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
You do me a favor, Please leave your number, Please
leave your phone number with Rob and if.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You'd like to get some update on this information. But
I gotta get you, gotta let you go. I getta
get one person in here. Let me get to George
and Arlington. George, you're calling late. You got to be quick.
You're on with Brian Kane. Go ahead, George.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Okay. Two quick questions. One, uh, I love the tea?
When a scooter scooter as bad as not? Is there
an IRIS SAT? And why don't they ever get back
to us when you make a comment. I'm sorry, I
don't understand the question. What an I r C customer
on the customer response thing is an IRIS? HEAT always
responds you know we'll get back to you. Nobody ever
(36:41):
gets back to us, is that right? I'm sorry? So, uh,
I'll tell you what. Let me let me see if
I can get in touch with you again. Dan, if
you don't mind, can you give this gentleman my number
and you can contact me and George.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
George, we're gonna, we're gonna we won't give you Brian's number,
but we're gonna take your number.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Rob will take your number, George. Uh and Brian, Brian,
if you can remember. Well, obviously Satchie wanted to talk
about the the the areas in Lynn and George is
talking about a more general question, which is people getting
back to them when they leave a comment on some
sort of line. Uh, well, don't you hang up when
(37:17):
when we finish, and we'll Rob will give you both
of those numbers. Okay, I can't quite understand. I was
trying to help Satchy more than he realized. Brian, you
have helped us tonight and helped all the people who
have an interest in the m bt A. Thank you
so much for coming on. And if you see the
general manager, he'd love to I'd love to have him
(37:37):
come on and and take some calls. And I think
most people tonight are a little happy with the m
b t A. They were the last time you were on,
which is which is a sign of progress.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, yeah, Dan, it's a real honor to be on
Night's side. And I have the utmost respect for you
and your listeners and all that you and they do.
And thanks again, and I hope you'll have you back sometime.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You bet you, we'll have you back more quickly than
you realize. And thanks again for tonight, and don't hang up, Rob,
Will Giff get you those names and phone numbers. When
we get back. Right after the ten o'clock news, we
are going to talk about the decision by former Congressman
Matt Gates to drop out to I would want to
(38:17):
say withdraw his nomination, but I guess I'll say that
he's going to withdraw his nomination. The President has already
nominated a successor, the former Attorney General of the State
of Florida, Pam Bondy. I had a different suggestion. I
want to talk about this. This seems to me to
be an unforced error that the Trump administration has made
(38:38):
here with Matt Gates. I couldn't understand why the nomination
was made in the first place, and I think that
Gates did everyone a favor by dropping out. We'll be
back right after the ten o'clock news talking some politics.
Right after this
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Koston's new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, thanks very much, Dan Watkins. As we move
into the tenant the nine o'clock hour here, I don't
get ahead of myself here, I am delighted to join
by to be joined by Brian Kane, the executive Director
of the MBTA Advisory Board. Brian, there's probably a little
confusion here, so let's clarify things. What is the MBTA
Advisory Board and as the executive director, what is your
(00:29):
role in terms of either how the tea operates or
how the people who operate the tea behave.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well. Dan, firstly, thank you very much for having me
on Night Side. It's a real honor to be on
your airwaves. Thank you very much. So. The NBTA Advisory
Board was created in nineteen forty seven, at the same
time the Metropolitan Transit Authority was created. We represent one
hundred and seventy eight cities and towns that receive MBTA
service or are next to a town that receives MBTA
(00:58):
service via the station, and we have a statutory obligation
to oversee the t's operating capital budgets, fair service policy,
and we maintained very close links with the team management
to try to keep them Monistan.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah. So, so you are in effect a representative of
the towns. But in addition, you're a representative of the
patrons of the m b t A. That's you know,
you're not employed by the MVTA.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We talked, Sorry, Dan, go ahead, I'm so.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Go ahead if I misspoke? What did I What did
you want to say?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
No? Sorry, I was going to say, I do not
work for the governor. I do not work for the legislature,
and I do not work for the t I work
for the cities and towns and their citizens.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Gotcha, No, absolutely, absolutely. Now, there was some news today
that you probably have heard of our newscast that the
number of slowed zones have been have been reduced dramatically.
I guess there's only slow zones left on the green
line or in parts of the green line. What caused
(02:05):
the slow zones? I assume it was problems with the
tracks for lack of maintenance or maintenance that had fallen behind.
Just for those who do not know the genesis of
slow zones, you can explain it much better than I can,
and I appreciate it if you would.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well. So a slow zone is a safety measure. So
if there are any defects on the track, like a
cracked rail or a broken sleeper, which is the sort
of piece of wood in between the two pieces of
iron that make a train track, there's any kind of
a problem there, or even a problem with the overhead wires,
what they'll do is they'll put in a slow zone,
(02:42):
which is a ten mile per hour speed restriction, and
that means for however long of a length of track
that slow zone is in place, the train can only
travel at ten miles per hour. Now, these things usually
or should get fixed every so often, but the t
forvariety of reasons, including lack of resources and the fact
(03:03):
that when they were trying to do this stuff overnight
they didn't have a lot of time, was not able
to get to them until some of these slow zones
were in place for years. And as your newscast referred
to the Triple Crown, I like that what Phil Lang
has done. The new general manager has gone in and
really put a real emphasis on this, and through a
(03:24):
variety of shutting down the system, they've gotten rid of
all the slow zones as well, except for four that
are left on the green line, and the GM has
promised that they will be eliminated by the end of
this calendar year.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Now, I assume that the slow zones are an industry
standard or is it a self imposed restriction of limitation
that the TEA has placed upon itself.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, it was really done out of an abundance of
caution and for safety. So the idea is that if
the train is going ten miles an hour, it's less
likely to derail or have any thing bad happened to it.
And chances are it could have gone faster over that
piece of track, but out of an bumpet pecaution, they
just made it go slow. And this is very common
(04:09):
in the railroad industry across the country in a public
transportation system. What wasn't common, Dan is the fact that
t had so many of them and that it took
so long.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I assume that was delayed maintenance, that the TEA
probably over time before you arrived and before phil Ang arrived.
That people said, well, we'll save a little bit in
the budget here. But what I'm saying is it was
it wasn't imposed by some government agency. It was something
that the MBTA recognized and did it for passenger safety
(04:41):
for which they should be commended. Okay, So one of
the issues that we deal with the tea and if
anyone has any questions about the MBTA, Brian Kana be
happy to talk to you and try to address those issues.
I'll be honest with you. I tend to ride the
Tea very infrequently, although when I have been in a
(05:03):
situation where I've driven where I've ridden the Tea occasionally,
It's worked fine for me. But I'm not commuting five
days a week on the MBTA as so many of
my listeners and so many people are you mentioned today
to me that you know that it's what two dollars
(05:25):
and seventy cents to ride the Tea at the regular rate,
And if you're going from one of the you know,
near in Boston suburbs, that's not bad when you think
about it. If you had to drive your car, and
not only did you have to deal with the traffic
that all of us are familiar with, but in addition
(05:46):
to that, you're going to have to park your car somewhere.
So if you begin to look at it like that,
it starts to look like a pretty good financial decision.
You know, for most people who need to get in
and get out of Boston on a day to day basis,
which leads me to my question, and that is, with
the slow zones now slowly but surely having been eliminated,
(06:10):
the number having been diminished, has TE ridership had a spike?
Whe's Where's where's t ridership at this point?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sure? Dan, So, first of all, I misspoke earlier to
your producer, and it's two dollars and forty cents for
a one way fair. It's one seventy for a bus fare.
So my apologies for that. That was my mistake. Ridership
is coming back. It certainly is back on commuter rail,
which has not had these sort of shutdowns to do
(06:40):
this track maintenance this year. So the MBTA's contractor, Kiolis
tells us that their ridership return rate is the best
in the United States. In other words, more people are
coming back to the MBTA commuter rail than any other
commuter rail system in the cunt and that's very good news.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And I assume that that refers to both pre and
post COVID.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yes. Yes, In fact, they tell us that in many
cases there their ridership now is above pre COVID levels
on some commuter allies. One thing they've noticed though, is
it's a different kind of ridership. It's not the five
day a week folks buying their those monthly passes like
(07:27):
which used to happen. It's folks going on a Saturday.
They have the tea is a great program. For ten bucks,
you and up to two kids under the age of
twelve can ride for free. So it's a great deal.
It's called a family Fair and they've had a lot
of ridership, take a lot of ridership uptake, and it's
caused their total ridership numbers to come way up.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'd never heard of that, and I listened a lot
during the day. Did they advertise that? Seriously? That's that's
the best deal in town. You know, a parent of
mom or dad can take a couple of it's in
or out of Boston for free on a Saturday. You're
going to visit the Children's Museum of the Science Museum.
That's that's terrific.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Yeah, it's all weekend actually, so you can even use
it the following day if you go on a Saturday.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah. But what I'm what I'm saying is that the
pr people got to get on the stick here and
get that word out. I was unaware of that.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Okay, yeah, they should advertise on nightside then.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well yeah, but no, but they should advertise a whole
bunch of places, because that to me sounds really fabulous.
But anyway, so let's take a quick break here. I
want to invite callers to call. This is an opportunity
for you to raise questions. I've got a lot to
talk about. We want to talk about the debt. How
the MVT is going to dig themselves out of this
(08:46):
this debt, How much of a deficit they'll have even
this year is impossible? Is there any projection that it
might break even some year? We get to all of that,
everything you want to know about the MVTA. We talk
about safety. The T had a spate of problems. You know,
whether or not it was a staircase that would collapse,
(09:07):
or whether or not a train would catch fire over
the Mystic River and you'd end up people seeing somebody
jumping off of train tracks into the water. All of
us remember, those are the images that are indelibly etched
in our mind. And the MBTA can improve, and they
apparently have improved based upon what we're here tonight. But
(09:28):
they got to let people know it's improved, and they
got to let people know that it is safe and
get this MBTA back in the organization which in operation,
which in turn will lessen the number of people are
out on the roads coming in on a daily basis
or even coming in during weekends. If you want to
talk with Brian Kane, he's the executive director of the
(09:50):
MBTA Advisory Board. It's a very important board and it's
a very important position. You can talk directly with him
at six point seven two five four ten or six
one seven nine ten thirty. And if you have a
constructive comment or suggestion, we'd love that as well, particularly
if you're somebody who utilizes the NBTA. We'll be back
(10:10):
on Nightside with more conversation with Brian Kine, executive director
of the MBTA Advisory Board, right after these few messages.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Now back to Dan Ray Mine from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Radio with us is Brian Kane. Brian, let's talk a
little bit of money here. The tea has always been
in debt, or at least during my lifetime. Uh And
right now you mentioned to me earlier that they're carrying
about five and a half billion dollars in debt. That's
(10:45):
about ten percent just to put in perspective of an
annual Massachusetts budget. That debt has come down a little
bit recently, but they have about five hundred billion dollar
debt service, which is interest on the debt. I mean
they're servicing the debt of half a billion dollars a year,
(11:08):
and that is more money that the t earns during
an entire year. Is this hole a hole that the
MBTA will ever dig out of or can ever dig
out of?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
In European Well, I don't know if they can ever
dig out of it, then probably not, But I can't
tell you that they have. They and their predecessor agencies
going all the way back to nineteen eighteen have always
been in debt, and that debt has always been a
millstone around the necks of those transportation agencies. We just
(11:44):
have a new report come out called Always Broke, and
it looks like the history of governing and financing the
MBTA since nineteen eighteen. And the thing that we discovered
is ever since public control started right around World War One,
this debt has been a problem that that the public
transportation systems here have never been able to get out.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
From under of Now did you did the advisory board
author that report?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I wrote it for the Advisory Board, which voted to
accept it at its meeting last week.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And that is your second report that you have authored,
as I understand it. Correct.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah. In two thousand and nine, when I was first
starting out in this field, I wrote a report called
Born Broke, which for the first time looked at the
effect of the sort of so called big big debt
on the MBTA's finances and really put that into the
public realm for the first time. So the.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
MVTA, with seventy five hundred employees, that has to be
one of the biggest employers in the state, or it
has to be right up there in the top ten
at big employers in the state.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Correct, Yes, I imagine it is.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yes, Okay. So with and you've got pension issues that
go back decades where people were able to retire after
twenty years, and there were individuals who retired after twenty
years and then took a job in team management, some
very high profile cases. It really ran wild in particularly
(13:25):
after sixties, seventies and eighties, in terms of spending, and
it seems to me that that is where the problem
really mounted. Or am I missing something?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I think you're right, Dan. I think the problem has
been when sort of political patronage gets involved and the
NBTA gets away from its mission of moving the people
of Massachusetts around the region on buses and trains and
ferries and other types of vehicles, and it becomes a
political dumping ground. I mean, that's when they start to
(13:59):
get into money, quite frankly. And I'm not sure what
the solution is, but we need to sort of get
this thing up on its seat and then kind of
get the politicians to butt out, quite frankly and let
the managers run it.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah. I mean there was a long time where the
acronym MBTA did not represent for in the minds of
many people, as the three Masters of Bay Transportation Authority
was mister Bulger's transportation agency, I guess. And there were
a lot of people who were close to the then
(14:36):
Senate President who were picking up jobs. We'll leave that.
We'll leave that for another time, for another night. Let's
let's get some callers in here. Let me start off
with RITA in East Boston. Reta, You called in early,
and I'm more than happy to accommodate you. Before the
nine thirty news around with Brian Kane, we're talking about
the NBTA reader. What question do you comment? Do you
have for Brian Kane?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
No, I just wanted to say, first, thank you for
taking my call, and then I want to say, is
it even possible to run a public transit that doesn't
have like a deficit?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Because I just think.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's the cost. The cost of having it is very
important because if you start to reduce it and you
start to take away features, that affects the population, which
in turn I think would be then a bigger burden
because then they'd have to try to live close to
the city or wherever they work. Is it ever possible
to never mind a deficit, but to ever just run
it as sort of a break even? Are there transit
(15:32):
systems in the area that can do that? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Stay right there, we'll get we'll get an answer for you.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Well, thank you. Rita. Yeah, and so the answer is no.
The only two that I'm aware of are in Singapore
and Hong Kong, and those have a bit of a
different government structure, shall we say, But in North America, Europe.
None of them operate without government subsidies. This is a
public good that we all benefit from and we all
(16:01):
contribute towards it. A little bit.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Rider to get a follow up or does that do
it for you?
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, that does it for me on that issue, but
we'll talk about specific lines on another call.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Okay, thanks Verder, appreciate your call. Yeah, how do we do?
Everybody knows the Bay Area rail transportation system in San Francisco,
New York, the Metro in Washington. Is there any way
to compare the public transportation systems in other cities Philadelphia, Boston, wherever?
(16:41):
Or is it just impossible? They're all so different.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I mean, they're all very different, but they all do
receive some federal money to help with their infrastructure, and
so because of that, they all have to report the
same information to the federal government. There is an organization
but that Yes, it's they called the National Transit Database,
which compares all of them across the whole country with
(17:05):
the same measures. So yeah, it's quite possible to compare
how each one is doing. Right now, the best performing
system is the Washington DC Metro, which is actually run
by a former NBTA guy Randy Clark, and they're doing
very well. They were in real trouble a couple of
years ago, very similar to what the trouble the TEA
(17:27):
was in with the federal government, and they've come out
of that and now ridership is back in many ways
and they're doing a lot better.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well. I assume that of all the transportation systems, Washington,
probably because it is Washington, has a lot more federal
moneies available to it than Boston, New York, Chicago, and
San Francisco or any other major city.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Would it. Sure does? It, Sure does. I mean there's
also a lot newer than certainly what we have in
Boston or Philadelphia, Chicago or New York City. Like you mentioned, Ye, that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
System was built, I believe, particularly the underground aspect, in
the late sixties and into the seventies. Am I right
or wrong on that?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I think that's right then, Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I had a buddy of mine who had been a
major league pitcher who you know, in those days, they
didn't make a lot of money, and his post career
job was digging tunnels for the Washington DC metro system. Well,
maybe probably not as glorious a job but it was
regular pay and for several years. Brian Kane is my guest.
(18:36):
He's the MBTA, he's the executive director of the MBTA
Advisory Board. He knows all things MBTA. He's been in
this post since twenty eighteen. I think he's doing a
great job. Happens to be one of my favorite guests
because whatever question you ask him, he will give you
an honest answer. There's no political veneer with Brian. It's
(18:57):
straightforward answer. So if you're an MBTA rider and you
got a question, or you cite or you perhaps want
to recommend something that could make it better, this is
the person to talk to. You wouldn't get him between
nine to five during the week because frankly he's too busy,
But we got him tonight and he's available to you
at six, one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, six, one, seven, nine, three, one,
(19:18):
ten thirty. Those are the numbers. And even if you
want to make a complaint, if you've had a good
experience on the tea recently, or if you have a
good experience regularly, I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.
From the conversely, you've had a bad experience and you'd
like to, you know, get it off your chest. Now's
the time to do it. Coming back on Nightside right
after the News at the bottom of the hour with
(19:38):
Brian kin the executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board.
And for those of you who don't understand, uh, necessarily
what the advisory Board does, will recap that for you.
And they have a tremendous amount of influence over the MBTA,
representing the one hundred and seventy eight cities and towns
that has some level of service from the MBTA here
in eastern Massachusetts. Back on night Side, more phone calls
(20:01):
coming up right after this.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
It's night Side, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Fact with Brian Kane, the executive director since twenty eighteen,
so he's been there a while, the executive director of
the MBTA Advisory Board, and I find him to be
extremely refreshing. It is difficult for us, Brian, just to
make a point, it's so difficult for us to get
any representative of the MBTA to come on this talk show.
(20:32):
And the reason for that is I think the public
relations people at the MBTA, their their job is to
protect the leadership of the TEA, whether it's Phil Ang
or someone else from from talking to just te Riders.
To me, it's absolutely insane. And I don't know if
(20:54):
you ever want to raise that with Ang for us,
but love to have him on talk about his accomplishments.
But the PR department there is intentionally, in my opinion,
obstructive to us at any time that we try to
get them, even even on you know, to say hey, look,
we just want to come on and talk about your
successors they have. It's it's it's very difficult. So I
(21:16):
just mentioned that. And the contrast is you're ail your
a willingness to come on at the end of a
long day. This is a full time job for you.
This is not some ceremonial job. This is a full
time job that you work at. So let's let's keep
going here with our questions and give people an opportunity
(21:37):
to talk with you. My next call is from Tom
in Boston. Tom, you are on with Brian Kane, the
executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board. Whatever commented question
you'd like to make a right ahead.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
Tom, Yeah, then great topic, Brian, Thanks for being there.
I am a long term PE writer. I did six
years of high school where I did the a bust
the red line in the green line, and that was
that was entertaining. And then they did twenty five years
(22:11):
on the commuter rail and that was a pleasure. But
recently I've done that.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
The first comment was somewhat sarcastic. I think I picked
up a note of sedcasting the first part of the comment.
So we'll let that one go.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And I like the idea.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Go ahead talk recently going going to the Red Sox.
If I if I take the commuter rail over to
Back Bay, they have a transfer to the train going
to Yackey Way, and you just transfer and you go
to Frienway parking, no parking fees. It's fantastic. It's time
(22:52):
perfectly for the game. But the other the other car
i'd maker is when I go into Boston now and
I'm in the express lane, the hother lane, and I
look over at the traffic. I scratched my head and say,
why would anybody drive into the city and pay for parking?
(23:14):
And now we have bike lanes and all these altar
I say, take the team.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Well, thanks, Tom, And you're right. There are other shuttle
buses not only from Back Bay station, but also from
Ruggle Station. The folks are coming in on some of
those other lines that might go to Ruggles. There's a
free bus from there too.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Mm hm.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Can you talk about tom when you talk about driving
in and the dedicated I think you called it the
hover line. My question is do you have another person
in that car or is that a blow up doll
that that city? I got normally the car right.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
Normally we do. But I have heard about other people
not having two people.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I'm only.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
One of the plug. One of the plug is I've
gotten now that I'm retired, I've gotten to enjoy the
commute of boats and we've actually not created Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Are they running all you guys? Are they running all year?
Are they still seasonal or what's what's the deal on those?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So some of them run year round, then the Lynn
Ferry because it has to sort of go out into
a little bit more of the open ocean, and the
Salem Ferry because for the same reason, they will be
ending very soon if they haven't already ended. But the
ones that stay sort of in the inner harbor, sort
of the this side of hull in Winthrope, they'll run
year round unless there's there's ice, or unless the Coastguard
(24:49):
tells them not to, so they hang them. The Hall
East Boston and Charlestown ferries are year round. They're fantastic.
The people that take them love them, and they serve.
They serve a few drinks there at the end of
the day. If that's your If that's your.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Choice, okay. On the return trip, not going in in
the morning, that's important as well, Hey, Tom.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
One of the go ahead.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
One other comment. You mentioned mister Dougherty a little while ago.
I think in your Civics class he told me about
the intersection of massav and Huntington AB all the utilities
that are there in the subway system. You know, the
Boston subway system is how many years old? One hundred
(25:37):
and fifty? I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
What. Yeah, eighteen ninety seven, Wow, I thought, okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Was that the same mister Dougherty that I referred to
by by chance?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yes, I love Charlestown.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Was he Chilestown?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I'm not sure he's from. I had him as a
ninth grade Civics teacher with Boston Latin School. Did you
go to Latin School?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I had him for history, but he was so entertained. Yeah,
and I used to see him. I used to see
him waiting at park streets for the trolleys that were
running a little bit late.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Tom, You've been a very enjoyable caller for me, humorous,
you brought your a game and uh and I think
Brian enjoyed it as well because there was nary a
criticism here.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Absolutely, thanks, thanks.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Thanks Tom. Talk to you soon if we go to
Bill in Norfolk, Massachusetts. Bill, you're next on NICEID with
Brian Kane, m BT, a Advisory board executive director.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
Hey Dan, I also had Dolreaty and Civics ninth grade
a lot.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
How about this is the small world here? This is I.
Speaker 8 (26:48):
Know he was, he was great.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
But I have something unusual here. I have praise for
the n b T and a question. Okay, good, good.
The first praise is I volunteer for the Red and
we have a great relationship with the MBTA, And I
tell you anytime we need them, we call them. They
help us out. Just two quick stories. I did a
(27:10):
big fire in Hull. I had about twenty displaced in
a boarding house and we we got them hotels, you know,
like ten miles away, so we had to get them there.
Speaker 8 (27:19):
Nobody had a car.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
One phone call.
Speaker 8 (27:21):
The teed buses there. I was actually emotional when I
saw that TEA bus show up. We did a big
fire in Randolph earlier this year. We had sixty displaced.
One phone called in the MBTA.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
They had two buses there for me and it was cold, so.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
We had to get people, you know, into the tee.
But that's the praise. My only question is I had
a buddy.
Speaker 7 (27:42):
We did twenty years in the MBTA, and you know
he got there early.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
He the way you carried. When you said I had
a buddy who did twenty years, I wasn't thinking about
the NBTA. He worked for the NBA.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
He worked, but he got a pension.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
Dan he was forty two.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
He's got a full at forty two. Is that still happening, guys?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So no, I mean it's still it's still very a
very very good deal. And let me see if I
can briefly explain. So they have a pension system that
goes back in pre day social security was negotiated back
in the nineteen teams and it's still in existence. The
deal is, if you go to work for the tea.
(28:27):
You cannot get any money out of the system unless
you're there. It used to be twenty three years, now
is twenty five years in a lot of cases in
the private sector, even if you work for the state,
if you do ten years, you can get some money
out to tee. The deal is you have to do
twenty five before you can get a dime out. But
once you do twenty five, you can get eighty percent
of your highest three earning years. And that's and that's
(28:50):
the pension system. Back in the day, folks used to like,
like your friends would start working there and there at
twenty at forty three, they'd be out. They pull their
pension and then go get another job.
Speaker 7 (29:02):
And he retired twenty years after in another place.
Speaker 8 (29:07):
He had a pretty good deal.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's a good deal. It's also eligible for Social Security.
I mean, it's a real good deal. The only thing
I'll say, and again I'm not justifying it. I'm not
defending it. I don't I'm not in it. You know,
those whatever they get when they retire tends to be
what they get for the rest of their retirement, so
it doesn't really go up very often. There's not the
cost of willing increases that are automatic, Okay, but yeah
(29:31):
it is. It's something that probably should get looked at. Well.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
The other fact taking that and I don't I don't
want to defend it because I was as outraged as
anybody is that if that pension program was instituted in
the nineteen teens, nineteen fifteen or whatever, the life expectancy
of the people who are working in the NATA, and
you know that era they had been born in the
(29:57):
eighteenth century, in their life expectancy probably was fifty five
fifty six, fifty seven from an actual aerial basis. If that, uh,
and as that system did not adjust over time, that's
when you had the people who were retiring at forty
two after twenty years. And then was we're able to
tack on a second job and in some cases a
(30:19):
second job with the MBTA by the way, really.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Aware of that, yeah, or a contractor or a vendor,
you know that, right? That's yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I mean I think there was one guy who ended
up being uh, the general general manager after having worked
in the T If I'm not mistaken. I don't want
to mention the name that I think because I don't
want to make a mistake, but I think it is
even that was one of the more outrageous cases in
my opinion. But Bill, you you raise great points. I
thank you so much for your.
Speaker 7 (30:51):
Call and bring that message back to the Red Cross.
I really appreciate it to what you guys do for us.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Thanks, sure, Brian will bring that back absolutely. Thank you, Bill,
and by the way, thank you. As a Latin School alum,
assume is PREMI to be involved in some of the
programs that you were involved in as a volunteer. I
don't want to ask you what year you graduated, but
just tell me who your head master was when you're graduating.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I'll be able to figure out doctor Leary.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Okay, Okay, I got I get a pretty good idea.
We might have been classic.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
I'm right behind you, brother, I'm right behind you.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Thanks. Bill, you're doing that. You're doing aid school problem.
Thank you much appreciate it. Okay, Well take quick break.
My guess is Brian Kane. Brian, you've had an easy
ride tonight. You've got some really good response and we'll
keep it up. We've got room for a couple more
six one seven thirty or six one seven, nine three
thirty coming back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
My guess, Brian Kane is the executive director of the
MBTA Advisory Board. We've talked about the tea. Now for
this hour, we'll take another call at least if you'd
like to jump on board if you got a question criticism.
I think you've had a pretty good night here, no
criticisms and mostly lawn its. Let's see what Sachi in
Saugus has to say. Sachi, you are next on night
(32:18):
Sign with Brian Kine, Executive Director, Sachi of the MBTA
Advisory Board. Satu, you go right ahead.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
Yes, I have a couple of small questions that MBTA
is one of the law actually not. It's the largest
landowner in the entire state of mass and there's so
much a land that is not being used by MBTA,
and there's like kind of abandoned and finally they just
(32:51):
realized and they you know, they leased it for ninety
nine years lease for the bike bad and for an example,
Lane Lynn, and they never finished the bike back and
they're homeless shelter tents and they as needles and so on.
(33:14):
So what MBTA is planning to do with the cities
that they are not doing their job to complete the
bike path and get all these tents out.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So a good question, sat. So, I don't know the
exact details of that particular piece of property, but if
it's been leased for ninety nine years, it's probably been
leased to a third party. I don't know if it's
the City of wind or if it's a nonprofit.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
The responsibility for get cleaning up the needles and getting
rid of the homeless encampments is up to the lease holder.
So when the NBTA sort of leases it, it sort
of says, now you're you're in charge. Uh. There are
some there are some exceptions, and maybe the t is
responsible for this particular one. I'm not sure this particular case,
but you know what, let me let me take that.
(34:03):
I'll see if I can find out if the is responsible.
I'll talk to some folks tomorrow and if it's the case,
I'll encourage them to get out there.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, where where is the satchi satchi? Where exactly is
the location so that you can help Brian Lynn.
Speaker 9 (34:21):
Right past Bennett Street Bridge, it's going all of it
to the live NBT a line and it comes to
a dead end in Lynn And you said you.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Just did I hear you?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You said Bennett Street.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Bridge Bennett Bennett Street.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Okay, good well look and the thing is.
Speaker 9 (34:45):
If you actually look at it, I have a land
right next to it, and I have a bear that
you know, stop the bear that a long time ago.
If you google it on the bike path, that's a
fast end, you know, end up my property. And after
that it's all They didn't do nothing and just random
(35:07):
people just pretense.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yeah, SATCHI let's do this. Sat listen to me for
second place.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
Yes, I want you to leave your number with Rob,
and Rob will give your number to Brian and I
guarantee you that Brian will look into it and he
will get back to you with some information.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
I just I don't want to leave your hanging.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Okay, Oh no, no, the problem.
Speaker 9 (35:30):
And I have one more question besides that.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, if you could be quick, I got another caller
who I'd like to accommodate.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I'd like something quick.
Speaker 9 (35:39):
That's the MBTA police still exist or did they change
it to transit priest just for the federal funding. So
we must save some money over there.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
No.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
Transit Police still exists. They have jurisdiction in all one
hundred and seventy eight communities and they're still I know
they've had trouble recruiting SAT.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
You do me a favor, Please leave your number, Please
leave your phone number with Rob and if.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You'd like to get some update on this information. But
I gotta get you, gotta let you go. I getta
get one person in here. Let me get to George
and Arlington. George, you're calling late. You got to be quick.
You're on with Brian Kane. Go ahead, George.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Okay. Two quick questions. One, uh, I love the tea?
When a scooter scooter as bad as not? Is there
an IRIS SAT? And why don't they ever get back
to us when you make a comment. I'm sorry, I
don't understand the question. What an I r C customer
on the customer response thing is an IRIS? HEAT always
responds you know we'll get back to you. Nobody ever
(36:41):
gets back to us, is that right? I'm sorry? So, uh,
I'll tell you what. Let me let me see if
I can get in touch with you again. Dan, if
you don't mind, can you give this gentleman my number
and you can contact me and George.
Speaker 6 (36:52):
George, we're gonna, we're gonna we won't give you Brian's number,
but we're gonna take your number.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Rob will take your number, George. Uh and Brian, Brian,
if you can remember. Well, obviously Satchie wanted to talk
about the the the areas in Lynn and George is
talking about a more general question, which is people getting
back to them when they leave a comment on some
sort of line. Uh, well, don't you hang up when
(37:17):
when we finish, and we'll Rob will give you both
of those numbers. Okay, I can't quite understand. I was
trying to help Satchy more than he realized. Brian, you
have helped us tonight and helped all the people who
have an interest in the m bt A. Thank you
so much for coming on. And if you see the
general manager, he'd love to I'd love to have him
(37:37):
come on and and take some calls. And I think
most people tonight are a little happy with the m
b t A. They were the last time you were on,
which is which is a sign of progress.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Well, yeah, Dan, it's a real honor to be on
Night's side. And I have the utmost respect for you
and your listeners and all that you and they do.
And thanks again, and I hope you'll have you back sometime.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You bet you, we'll have you back more quickly than
you realize. And thanks again for tonight, and don't hang up, Rob,
Will Giff get you those names and phone numbers. When
we get back. Right after the ten o'clock news, we
are going to talk about the decision by former Congressman
Matt Gates to drop out to I would want to
(38:17):
say withdraw his nomination, but I guess I'll say that
he's going to withdraw his nomination. The President has already
nominated a successor, the former Attorney General of the State
of Florida, Pam Bondy. I had a different suggestion. I
want to talk about this. This seems to me to
be an unforced error that the Trump administration has made
(38:38):
here with Matt Gates. I couldn't understand why the nomination
was made in the first place, and I think that
Gates did everyone a favor by dropping out. We'll be
back right after the ten o'clock news talking some politics.
Right after this
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