Massachusetts General Law Chapter 161a, Section 5 requires the MBTA to submit an annual capital investment plan to the Advisory Board for its review. On May 16, the Advisory Board published its Oversight Report by unanimous vote.
In this report, the MBTA Advisory Board labels the FY 26-30 CIP of $9.8 billion in spending across 670 projects as a “nuts and bolts” program. The plan exhibits commendable work towards maintenance and stability while grappling with insufficient resources. Examining the distribution of funding by mode and targeted goal, the report highlights the MBTA’s strong commitment to accessibility and climate resiliency. The programmed projects represent 1/13th of the total funding requested, demonstrating the dire need for reform to the MBTA’s funding structure.
The Advisory Board calls attention to the importance of a public, long-term vision. The CIP is meant to be based on the Program for Mass Transportation (PMT), which itself is meant to be based on a strategic vision for the region’s public transportation network. The PMT was due March 18, 2024, but the Department of Transportation will not complete it until at least December 2025.
The MBTA Advisory Board is grateful to the MBTA staff for their time and hard work presenting the budget and answering Members’s questions. The MBTA Advisory Board also thanks the members of the Capital Budget Oversight Committee for their efforts creating this report. Mayor Patrick Keefe of Revere chaired the committee, joined by Tom Skwierawski of Revere, Matthew Petersen of Boston, James Hoyes of Hanover, Yem Lip of Malden, Tracy Lawrence of Marblehead, Frank Tramontozzi of Quincy, Daniel Carty of Sudbury, and Chester Obsorne of Maynard.
“The 178 cities and towns in the MBTA service district broadly support the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (“MBTA” or “Authority”) Fiscal Years (“FY”) 2026-2030 Capital Investment Program (“CIP”), and recommend its approval by the MBTA Board of Directors. This CIP can best be described as a “nuts and bolts” CIP. It seeks to build on the success of 2024’s track improvement program, and funds a number of state of good repair (SGR) programs that the Advisory Board has called attention to for at least a decade; and strongly supports. The Advisory Board also notes that this CIP, in its entirety, can be described as an accessibility program and as a climate resiliency initiative. Accessibility and resiliency are built into everything the Authority seeks to fund in this plan and this deserves praise.
While far from ideal, this CIP continues major investments in SGR, accessibility, safety, and resiliency which, while solid, are unfortunately insufficient. GM Phil Eng and his leadership team have demonstrated success in improving public transportation infrastructure via the recently completed Track Improvement Program which removed over 220 speed restrictions and replaced over 250,000 feet of rail on light and heavy rail lines. The Authority has not demonstrated such improvements through infrastructure investments in recent memory. Despite demonstrating such success, communities note that over $13 billion in projects were requested for funding from MBTA departments, of which just over $1 billion are funded. 1/13th is not transformational, visionary, strategic, nor suitable to fund the system this Commonwealth needs and deserves; but 1/13th is what the MBTA can do with available resources. Communities note that the single largest funding source of the proposed CIP is MBTA borrowing, paid for by future operating budgets. 1/13th is what the MBTA can afford, and undoubtedly the current management team will work wonders with these funds. However, it must be noted somewhere that this is simply not good enough.
Municipalities and the public also do not understand the strategic vision for our public transportation system. How can the communities served by the system tell from this CIP what the MBTA’s vision/approach is? There is a concern that the connection between investments and achieving goals and meeting commitments is missing. The CIP is supposed to be based on the Program for Mass Transportation (PMT), which itself is meant to be based on a strategic vision for the region’s public transportation network. The PMT was due March 18, 2024, but the Department of Transportation will not complete it until at least December 2025. Without this basic building block, how can riders know the Authority’s plans for rail electrification, bus improvement, headway betterment, Old Colony double tracking, bus improvements, etc.? How can residents of the Commonwealth know the effect that the funds allocated in this CIP will have on air quality, traffic congestion, the housing crisis, economic competitiveness, or the overall livability in Massachusetts? In short, what is the vision?…”