(The following appeared on the Boston Globe website on May 17, 2011.)
BOSTON — Massachusetts transportation officials said yesterday that they were scrutinizing possible changes to the MBTA’s contract with the company that runs the commuter rail system — or perhaps a takeover of the railroad’s operation — following revelations that the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad was being paid bonuses for “on-time performance’’ even when service had sunk to an all-time low.
The Globe reported Sunday that, in a series of changes that were never discussed at MBTA board meetings, the T eliminated or altered penalty provisions that would have cost the commuter railroad an estimated $32.6 million for late trains and bad customer service from 2003 to the present.
In that period, the private company, founded by a former general manager of the T, presided over a significant decrease in the percentage of trains that arrived on-time, particularly in the harsh winter of 2010-11.
Full story: Boston Globe