MBTA General Manager Bev Scott was on C-SPAN Thursday morning, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, where she ran down a list of transit must-do’s – achieve a state of good repair, for starters – and reaffirmed what so many already know: the T is very, very old.

 

The T is the oldest subway system in the country, sure, but more importantly, it’s also one of the busiest – something Scott was quick to point out.

Despite providing an average of 1.3 million weekday trips and over 400 million per year, the T, Scott said, is struggling to achieve the necessary standards required of such a vital public system.

“As you can expect, achieving a State of Good Repair is a significant challenge for the T,” Scott said. “It’s a challenge we live with everyday, our customers experience everyday, and our employees work to overcome everyday.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, looking both empathetic and curious, listened to Scott speak of the T’s ancient infrastructure – a bus system, for example,”initially designed to operate horse-drawn omnibus carriages,” Scott said.

While Scott admitted, “State of Good Repair – fix it first. Common sense. Must happen,” looking at the “hole… not the donut,” is an option Scott doesn’t want to consider.

The authority GM’s donut analogy stressed to Senate members – and the T’s critics – that a big picture look at the T’s future was necessary. The Green Line Extension project, for instance, is the T’s most important project at the federal level, according to Scott.

Why?

Only 20 percent of densely populated cities – Cambridge, Medford and Somerville – are within walking distance of a rail station, according to Scott. When the GLX is complete, that number will jump to 75 percent, and reduce commuters’ travel times by “sixty-five to seventy percent.”

Read those statistics again; they’re eye-opening, to say the least.

In short, Scott’s testimony focused on looking at the full extent of the T’s struggles – employee development, a $5 billion deficit, outdated vehicles – and also stressed the importance, at the local and federal levels, of bringing the system up-to-date.

I admit, like most, I have my gripes with the T. But there’s something about Scott’s presence on camera that provides a sense of calm and hope; her delivery prompts emotions typically reserved for Al Pacino speeches.

Since this post can’t include video of Scott’s testimony (click the link at the top), here’s a four-minute clip from Any Given Sunday, for context.

Screenshots via C-SPAN

When you're featured on C-SPAN, you know you've made it. But actually, though.
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