Are we being 'yessed to death' on Red

An MBTA map showing how the Red and Blue lines would be connected,.

Transportation/ Opinion

By James Aloisi MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Jul 30, 2023

MY MOTHER was a very exacting person, and I can remember times when she asked me to do something that I really didn’t want to do (most likely attend a family gathering I’d rather avoid). I would say “alright Ma, OK,” and she would look me in the eye and say “Don’t ‘yes’ me to death.”

What she meant was, “Don’t placate me by saying ‘yes’ and then doing nothing.”

I raise this as a cautionary tale in the aftermath of the MBTA board’s approval of the 2024- 2028 Capital Investment Plan (CIP) last week. The CIP is something of an organic document, but not overly so – it can be revised on a year-to-year basis, but often only at the margins, because once spending gets baked into a project, it becomes more and more difficult to redirect funding or expectations. Many transit advocates, including me, were critical of the draft CIP issued in March this year. We called for significant changes to the CIP on a number of fronts, most notably a demonstration of a more appropriate level of funding for the Red-Blue Connector and for Phase 1 Regional Rail. What we got was the T’s version of my “alright Ma, OK.” Now comes the real test of the T’s commitment to these initiatives, and we can test whether we are being “yessed to death,” or whether there is a genuine commitment to making modernization and connectivity happen.

The MBTA is already tardy in advancing the Red-Blue Connector. This mission-critical connectivity problem ought to be advanced to 100% design and in construction during the tenure of the current administration. Why is the Red-Blue Connector so important? It is important for easy, zero-carbon transit access to some of our region’s most important and job-rich destinations: the vast MGH/MEE complex, the Kendall Square academic and technology center, Government Center and the newly developed Haymarket, Logan Airport, and the emerging massive development site at Suffolk Downs. That access also provides transport justice to people living in East Boston and Revere, where residents can access health care or jobs in a one-seat T ride. It provides environmental justice for everyone in the inner core served by the Red Line, by reducing urban vehicle miles traveled, and it strengthens the inner core economy by supporting the agglomeration effects of urban density. The Connector also expands MBTA capacity, relieving pressure on Park Street Station and Government Center Station. There literally is nothing but significant upside to building this subway connection.

If I were Mayor Wu, I would be insisting on this.

Such a fully developed plan, and a Gantt chart showing the milestones and timeline getting us to revenue service, is what will assure transit advocates, city leaders and transit riders that the T is serious about getting the Red Blue Connector done, and not merely “yessing us to death.”

Phase 1 Regional Rail is an initiative critical to the region’s economic and environmental future. The additional funding provided for work to advance Regional Rail was, in my view, underwhelming. But let’s take the most positive view of the CIP as possible. It does commit new funding ($2 million) for a “conceptual design” of Regional Rail on the line from Salem to Boston. Again, the T needs to reveal its plan for the conceptual design and a timeframe for completion. A conceptual design process that lingers for two or more years will be another way to placate advocates without actually getting anything meaningful done. The T should also reveal its overall plan for the line. One critical path, brought to my attention by TransitMatters colleagues, would be to include the components of future electrification in the design and rebuilding of the Lynn Rail station. Doing this would be an important sign of agency competence and good faith. It makes no sense to rebuild the station without including the wires and other infrastructure that will support the T’s Regional Rail Phase 1 commitment. This is the kind of follow-up from the CIP that transit advocates expect to see in the coming months – certainly sometime this fall.

The CIP approved last week is a small but important step forward. It is not groundbreaking. It is not as transformative as many would have liked, but it is hopefully a signal of a redirection by the T that will pay dividends. What advocates now want to see, without undue delay, are the underlying implementation plans and the Gantt chart timelines that will demonstrate the real commitment of the agency to turn the optics of the CIP into the reality of better, modern service for riders across the region.

James Aloisi is a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation and a member of the board of TransitMatters.