STAFF EDIT: MBTA’s misplaced priorities

Tired of hearing the incessant rings of cellular phones during class, in elevators and all over the city? As cellular service has become more and more popular over the past several years, using cellular phones intrusively all over town has become commonplace. And until last week, cellular phone service was scheduled to come to an underground T train near you.

Andrew Corp. backed out of the plan last week after expressing concerns about the project’s up-front costs and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rent charges planned for use of the MBTA tunnels, according to The Boston Globe. The company could have provided cellular service to the T’s nearly 20 miles of underground tunnels, including nearly five miles on the Green Line. Major cellular service companies have expressed continued interest in the project, which would put the MBTA’s cellular service ahead of any other underground rail service in the United States and on par with the systems in some cities outside the country.

But the MBTA has many more problems than the system’s lack of cellular service throughout its underground tunnels. With numerous construction projects currently in progress, including several along the length of the Boston University campus, the T’s interest in transportation extras seems a bit out of line. The MBTA should focus squarely on finishing its outstanding projects and making the physical system more comfortable and efficient. The agency has been wracked by several controversies over the past year, including the failure of several commuter rail employees to adequately assist a man in the middle of cardiac arrest several months ago. With a continued need to fix train cars the agency purchased several years ago, the T’s interest in adding small customer comforts seems, quite literally, out of line. Only when all of its more important projects are done should the T begin to even think about projects like adding cellular phone service.

And though not having to stop talking when your train goes underground may sound attractive right now, cellular service underground could be a big mistake. Minutes spent underground on the T provide a welcome respite from the overheard conversations and cellular phone rings that mark modern life. With subway service, cellular phones will have encroached upon every last inch of our lives, enabling people to be connected everywhere they go. Though there may be an important safety reason to add the service, its downsides far outweigh its positives.

With so many problems and unresolved projects, the MBTA should not be concerned with adding a service no other underground rail system in the United States currently offers. The agency should delay cellular phones’ inevitable encroachment into every minute of our daily lives.