Service bill comes due
Confronted with more troubling figures about the high cost of maintaining MBTA buses compared to transit systems in other cities, the union representing T machinists has come up with a rather inventive excuse for the disparity. Must be the weather. Yes, we’re approaching desperate territory here, as union leaders try to thwart efforts to outsource some of the T’s most expensive services, which might be more efficiently handled with competitive bidding by private contractors.
The Pioneer Institute released a new report Friday that concluded the T spends more on vehicle maintenance than every other major transit system in the country. The MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board is considering outsourcing the bus maintenance service at some T garages; a consultant has predicted possible cost savings of $25 million a year.
The Pioneer report supports that estimate, and in fact concludes that if vehicle maintenance expenses for the T were reduced to the average of five “peer” public transit agencies, the agency could have saved $43.7 million in 2015.
Mike Vartabedian, area director for the International Association of Machinists, said it’s unfair to compare the T to operations in cities where the weather is warmer.
And he may have a point about Miami, one of those “peer” transit systems used for comparison.
But ... Philadelphia? Maryland? Not exactly the Sunbelt.
And when the report compares the T’s spending on vehicle maintenance per hour of bus operation to the 25 largest public transit agencies in the country — including New York and Chicago — the T still comes out on top, in a race no fare-payer or taxpayer should want to win.
The T also devotes more labor hours and pays higher salaries than all of its peer transit agencies, and all but one of the 25 largest transit agencies in the country.
It’s important to keep in mind that there are many hardworking individuals behind any greeneyeshade analysis. But the Baker administration proved with its negotiations with the Carmen’s Union that it won’t simply wipe out those jobs, leaving workers on the street.
But it does need to bring an end to the old way of doing business if the T is to stay operational. Inviting competition for this service is one way to do it.