Teen that knows transit

West Roxbury MA - A 16-year old high school student, Stuart Spina, probably knows more about the transit service in Boston than those that run the MBTA. Spina is also several steps beyond most transit fans whose interest is mostly in the vehicles.

Much like myself, Spina is not just interested in the vehicles themselves but in how those vehicles provide service. He pays attention to not only the current routes but the history of those routes as well. While not directly mentioned in the article, I get the distinct impression that he also is very interested in what I call the back room which is the administration and management of the system.

Unlike what I dealt with growing up with my local transit system, the MBTA seems more willing to accept Spina's ideas and suggestions. At PAT, my local system, they never really shook off the Pittsburgh Railways mentality which was "it's our way or no way". The MBTA is already looking into implementing one of Spina's ideas which is a hand held Charlie Card reader which can be used to help cut down on boarding times.

Transit systems often times brush off "fans" as an irritant. Many times they are and I know many that I am embarrassed being seen with in public with but we "fans" also have an insight into the transit operations that the administration and employees just can't see. The fans like Spina and myself, who are interested how service gets on the street, are often times able to easily see problems that the insiders completely miss.

I'm glad the MBTA is taking Spina's suggestions and ideas seriously. With a little luck, Spina may one day run the MBTA and use his "fan" expertise along with work experience to further improve the MBTA operation.

The scandal plauged PVTA in even more trouble

Springfield MA - The scandal plagued Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) of Springfield MA is in even more trouble. In the Boston Herald, a story on a recent audit of the operation that shows accounting errors totalling over $10 million dollars. These clerical errors could result in the PVTA owing the Feds more than $4 million dollars in refunds.

The PVTA has become a total disaster. Various criminal probes into its activities and now this, all trust in this government agency is gone. Even with a new executive director who is attempting to reverse the view of the PVTA, the agency will never regain the trust of the public. It will always be viewed as a scandal plagued agency and there probably will be more surprises coming up from the total mismanagement of the operation.

The best thing that could be done is to dissolve the current PVTA and create a new agency with a brand new administration. A new name, new leadership and new outlook on providing service may bring back some of the trust of the public in Springfield's transit system.

The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority has earned the honor of receiving the Chambersburg Transit Authority award from Laurels & Lances for having a royally screwed up transit system.

PVTA seeks to rebuild reputation

Springfield MA - A report in The Republican tells of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority's (PVTA) attempt to rebuild its reputation after a year of scandals and poor decisions.

The first thing I noticed in the report is that the new executive director, Mary MacInnes, is planning to rely on the marketing department to help rebuild the image of the PVTA in the eye of the public.

I sense a fiscal mess on the horizon from this. Instead of creating new, additional marketing department positions, Ms. MacInnes needs to concentrate on just making sure the service to the public is safe, clean and reliable.

Marketing isn't going to change the perception of the operation and it doesn't matter how much you spend on marketing campaigns or marketing positions. What will change the perception in the public eye is safe, clean and reliable service. That and just doing what needs to be done which is to clean house internally.

When you start depending on the marketing department to create an image, your simply finding something to waste money on rather than spending it on service improvements. I have seen too many transit systems fall into the marketing department trap where they end up trying to sell the service like a can of Pepsi and do no real improvements to the operation.

I hope I am wrong but I just sense a massive fiscal black hole developing at the PVTA because they are expanding the marketing department. That black hole will be the marketing department sucking down the money without providing any real results.

Activists are trying to price public transit out of existence

Boston, MA - Several recent stories out of the Boston area have proven something I've believed for decades. Activist groups are helping to price public transit out of existence.

The first news story I bring up deals with a lawsuit over the MBTA's Silver Line service. Claiming discrimination, activists tried to force the MBTA to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer money to change the Silver Line from buses to Light Rail Transit (LRT).

Thanks to the whiny lawsuit by a handful of activists, the cost to run the Silver Line have now gone up as the MBTA is now required to maintain and provide quarterly data on the line to the Feds. This data is primarily to help keep the activists at bay.

Thankfully, the courts have ruled in the favor of the MBTA on this one. Still, the costs have increased thanks to a small bunch of activists that think they know more than anyone else.

The second news story related to activism raising costs deals with an agreement that the MBTA has entered into for extending the Green Line. Activists using environmentalism rather than discrimination pushed for the extension over issues from the Big Dig.

Guess what, the MBTA really doesn't have the money to extend the line, yet alone operate it, but the activists don't care. I take that back, they'll care when fares are raised and service gets cut to help pay for it and file another lawsuit.

The activists groups that push these types of lawsuits against public transit refuse to see the big picture. They only want to see what they wish to see. These activists love to claim how they support public transit but they'll make any wild claim to make the lawsuit stick and don't care that they're actually helping to destroy public transit.

The amount of money that these types of activists cost public transit agencies every year in lawsuits and increased costs to operate literally go into the billions of dollars. From defending itself in court to additional paperwork and costs to implement and run what the activists want, the cost to the public transit agencies is staggering. With all this wasted money, public transit could really be improved for everyone but it'll never happen as long as these ridiculous lawsuits continue to be allowed.

A big Lance goes out to all the activist groups that are trying to make public transit unaffordable to the people.