The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is looking for the public’s input on its recently released plans to upgrade and modernize the transit system.
On Monday, the MBTA began its open comment period for the Draft Capital Investment Program for fiscal years 2013 through 2017, which has a drafted $4 billion in capital expenditures that maintain and replace current infrastructure and build expansion projects.
The capital expenditures have reached a $3 billion backlog over the past decades, and need improvement, according to the CIP Draft.
“Every year the need to fund capital projects surpass our funding capacity,” said MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera in an email. “This imbalance results in under-investment which does not allow us to reduce the backlog.”
Those assets that have reached the end of their useful life and “are in need of replacement or renewal” represent the backlog, Rivera said.
This backlog resulted in the CIP Draft, proposing improvements such as subway car and bus investment, upgrades and mid-life overhauls.
“The T’s Capital Investment Program was first introduced in 2001,” Rivera said, “and over the years has proven to be a valuable tool for T staff in identifying the authority’s infrastructure needs.”
This renewal is to be achieved by pursuing a “State of Good Repair,” she said.
“One of the T’s highest priorities is maintaining its infrastructure through the ‘State of Good Repair’,” Rivera said, “where the T invests approximately $470 million per year.”
T Riders Union chair Stuart Spina said in a phone interview that he thought everything in the CIP report “needs to be done,” and showed the T was making the best use of its resources.
“The upgrades may not be as glamorous as new trains,” Spina said, “but it’s all important for being able to increase service.”
It is important for the public to understand the MBTA budget, Spina said.
“People are confusing the capital and operating budgets,” he said. “It’s not like if they stopped upgrading the stations and trains that there would be a new Green Line train. It’s two different pots of money.”
In light of the report’s plan to upgrade trains, with some Green Line trains more than 60 years old, Spina said it was amazing that service has been maintained at its current levels.
“This should be a wake up call to the powers at be that transit systems aren’t receiving adequate funding,” he said. “The key thing is getting more funding and not talking about cuts.”
Spina said there is a dire future ahead if further steps are not taken to solve the MBTA’s budget issues.
“If there is no legislative action figuring out what to do, there will always be the looming threat of fare increases and service cuts,” Spina said. “In the end, we’ll be left with a system that only runs at rush hour and only a few people can afford.”
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There are no cars running in regular service on the Green Line that are more than 25 years old. The 60 year old cars that you are referring to run on the Mattapan-Ashmont line in Dorchester. That line is considered an extension of the Red Line. The cars used (called PCC cars) used to run on the Green Line but haven’t been in service there since the 1980’s. These PCC cars have been extensively (and expensively) rebuilt and, while carrying passengers every day also serve as a tourist attraction. Similar cars can be found in regular operation only in Philadelphia (Route 15), San Francisco (the F line) and Kenosha, Wisconsin. If you want to experience a 1940’s trolley running on a scenic private reservation, just take the Green Line to Park St., transfer to a Red Line southbound Ashmont train. At Ashmont, just go up the stairs to the Mattapan car loading platform.