State Rep. William Straus filed two bills that would remove commuter rail and ferry operations from the MBTA, and leave it solely responsible for running the region’s bus and subway systems.
If the legislation is approved, commuter rail operations, except for the Fairmount Line which would remain a part of the MBTA, would transfer to the rail and transit division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
The ferry would be overseen by a new regional port authority, a political subdivision of the commonwealth created for the purpose of providing water transportation services, similar to regional transit authorities, the legislation states.
“My goal is to have a smaller T, which is then allowed to focus on its core mission,” said Straus, House chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation. “So, it would be buses and subway in the immediate Boston metro area, and that core mission is to safely get people back and forth throughout the day.
“A more targeted, less-broad-missioned T, I think, benefits everybody in the state on a number of different levels.”
Aside from Philadelphia, he said, “almost everywhere else” in the United States views its commuter rail differently from its closed-in metropolitan-area subway system, and has distinct oversight and governance for both.
“Whatever the circumstances that got us to the MBTA being in charge of both, it doesn’t work anymore,” Straus said, asserting that the governor’s office is already more involved with commuter rail operations than the T.
According to Straus, the MassDOT secretary of transportation made the decision to hire Keolis Commuter Services as the MBTA’s commuter rail operator, despite that decision technically being made within the T, by the general manager.
Commuter rail also moves people differently from the subway, its capital infrastructure needs are different, and the two systems answer to separate federal agencies for safety oversight, which are the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration, respectively, he said.
In addition, Straus said he doesn’t want to see capital needs for the subway system “in direct competition” with commuter rail, particularly with electrification of its diesel-powered fleet looming.
Similarly, he said safety oversight of the ferry is handled by the U.S. Coast Guard, and direct operation of three ferry routes in Boston Harbor is contracted out to a private company.
Ultimately, Straus is aiming for an MBTA that also delegates much of its major capital work, similar to what he said was done with South Coast Rail and the Green Line Extension.
A statutory change would not be necessary, and Straus sees a potential solution in the new high performance unit created by former MassDOT Secretary Jamey Tesler. Major capital projects could be run out of that secretariat, he said.