Dear MBTA, A couple of months ago, I was riding the 5:10 Framingham-bound commuter-rail train to Boston Landing. I was engrossed in some fascinating reading, but a small part of my brain was listening for stop announcements, or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and found myself in Newtonville! Before exiting… Read More »
Several years ago, I contacted my state senator, Will Brownsberger, and asked for his help addressing a serious problem: some MBTA buses were leaking engine fumes into their passenger compartments, sickening passengers and putting their long-term health at risk. I wrote about this issue extensively here. In response, Will arranged for me to meet with… Read More »
If there’s one thing we can learn about Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker from his conduct following our recent snowstorms and public transit woes, it’s that he believes in fantasy management.
The MBTA is currently beta-testing a project & corresponding web application called “Transit Diary“. Its purpose is to collect data directly from riders about their experiences riding the T, presumably to help the T evaluate how well it is serving riders’ needs and where service-improvement efforts should be focused. Unfortunately, Transit Diary employs obsolete, inferior… Read More »
I met several months ago with MBTA management to present my concerns about toxic fumes in certain MBTA buses. Thank you, again, to State Senator Will Brownsberger and his Legislative Counsel and Policy Advisor, Michael Buckley, for making that meeting happen. I am pleased to report that the MBTA took my concerns seriously, investigated them, and… Read More »
To: Shawn Williams, Massachusetts Supervisor of Records Cc: Lori Sullivan, the staff attorney in Williams’s office who research my appeal Cc: Susan Krupanski, the MBTA employee who denied my legitimate public records request Cc: Will Brownsberger, my state senator and an all-around good guy Cc: On the Media Cc: The Boston Globe Cc: The Boston… Read More »
A side effect of my attempts to get information from the MBTA about toxic fumes in the passenger compartments of their buses (I will write more about that later, after a followup meeting I’ve been invited to by the MBTA) was my discovery that the MBTA is not terribly good at responding to public records… Read More »
In my meeting today with the MBTA about the air quality inside T buses, I suggested that the fact that we sometimes see exhaust smoke coming from underneath the buses, despite the fact that the buses’ exhaust pipes are on top of the buses, might indicate a broken exhaust system which might explain how exhaust… Read More »
Today, I met with the MBTA to discuss my concerns about poor indoor air quality (IAQ) inside some T buses. I am extremely grateful to Michael Buckley, Sen. William Brownsberger’s Legislative Counsel and Policy Advisor, for arranging the meeting and attending with me. The following T employees were present: Jeffrey Gonneville, Chief Mechanical Officer; Dave… Read More »
Last month, I sent the MBTA a public records request, trying to obtain more information about how aware they are of the problem of air quality problems in the passenger compartments of their buses, and what they are doing about the problem. The Massachusetts Public Records Law requires “custodians of records” like the MBTA to… Read More »