MBTA Fast Five superheroes battle fare hikes, service cuts

While trouble looms for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, one group of real-life superheroes is fighting for plans that could help reduce the MBTA’s $161 million deficit.

The group, Alternatives for Community & Environment, has created five “superheroes” that each represent a different solution.

“We can see [each solution] being implemented on a short-term basis,” said Lee Matsueda, program director for the T Riders Union at ACE, which created the superheroes. “They have been doing a lot of outreach in the community, speaking to folks [and] saying that there are solutions and alternatives.”

ACE’s Fast Five strive for solutions that range from redistributing the T’s budget to holding the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company more responsible for its services.

The MBCR Rock Star, one of the Fast Five heroes, wants more fines for insufficiently cleaned stations and delayed commuter rail trains, according to the ACE website.

The MBCR Rock Star said she is trying to get the MBCR to cover the $49.6 million the T was entitled to, although they renegotiated their contract to get only a little more than $1 million.

“They failed to meet their agreed-upon goals,” the MBCR Rock Star said. “If they didn’t run their service on time they were supposed to be fined. We are encouraging the T to collect these fees that the public could benefit from.”

People were losing jobs because the train was running late, the MBCR Rock Star said.

“They failed to do what they agreed to do,” she said. “They knew what was going to happen if they didn’t deliver.”

In the past, the MBTA reduced penalties placed on the MBCR for non-performance issues, ultimately preventing $42.9 million from going to the MBTA from January 2004 until June 2008, according to an independent state audit report released in 2011.

MBCR spokesman Scott Farmelant said the MBTA created an experimental penalty system in 2003, which penalized MBCR for all late trains. Then the MBTA installed a new penalty system in 2007, he said.

“After recognizing there was a problem with the administration of the penalties they amended the contract moving forward so that the MBCR would not be threatened,” Farmelant said. “Bottom line, the MBCR paid a penalty for every late train. They live right up to the letter of their contract.”

Farmelant also said the MBCR is limited to a 6.2 percent fixed price profit. It is responsible for many costs, such as steel, energy, health and welfare, all of which eat into the profit margin, he said.

Farmelant said the MBCR is accountable for late trains that fall late within its control.

“When you look at things outside their control, for the last three years the numbers have been at 95 percent for on-time trains,” Farmelant said.

The MBCR has made this mark for six out of the last eight years, he said.

“We’re quite comfortable that the work we’re doing is moving in the right direction,” Farmelant said.

As for ACE’s other characters, the Snow Removal Hero encourages the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to move funds from the snow-removal budget to the MBTA, according to the ACE website.

MassDOT spokesman Michael Verseckes said this year there was between $7 and $8 million dollars left over in the MassDOT budget.

“We didn’t spend all the money that was budgeted,” Verseckes said. “We did have to restock salt sheds and other related costs.”

But this may not solve the entire debt problem, he said.

“We don’t have as much funds covering the actual deficit,” Verseckes said. “It’s just not going to cut it in terms of covering the whole deficit.”

Other superheroes include Bank Boy, who argues the MBTA should renegotiate bad interest rate swaps with Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase and other banks, according to the ACE website.

There is also the UPass Hero, who wants a UPass program at universities that caters to college students, as well as the MassPort Hero, who wants MassPort in charge of ferry services and the Silver Line bus that travels to Logan International Airport, according to the ACE website.

All of these changes combined could result in at least $224.6 million in savings, according to ACE.

Matsueda said the superheroes have been attending hearings and other MBTA meetings.

MBTA spokesman Lydia Rivera said the MBTA has heard thousands of comments and has had about 1,700 speakers.

The superheroes have attended general meetings as well as board meetings, she said.

“This group has the right to voice their concerns,” Rivera said. “We respect their comments. We want to make sure all comments are heard. At the end of the day we’ll come up with a fair, equitable process as we move forward with the fare-restructuring plan.”