Dear Governor Patrick,

I am writing you today about an issue of great concern to our economy and public health in these trying times. I urge you strongly to relieve MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas of his duties and call for a full scale evaluation and strategic plan for the MBTA. This summer, I worked about 2 miles from my home in Dorchester and was able to walk to work nearly every day. It was a long walk, but it was better than taking the red line two stops, and probably less time consuming. As such, I was able to spend nearly three months blissfully T free. Recently, however, I made a move to Worcester to live with my partner, who works in the Western part of the state, but chose to continue my community work in Boston, working full time at youth-serving organization in Dorchester. Despite the lower cost of fuel, I made the decision to commute by train in order to be environmentally conscious, and now spend $250 per month to commute between my home in Worcester and my work in Boston.

I made this decision with two key MBTA advertisements in mind: (1) That the trains on the Worcester/Framingham line now have wireless and (2) that the Worcester/Framingham line was adding four new trains to the schedule just days before my November 1 move. Since the beginning of my commute, just 2 weeks ago, I have been increasingly stressed, irritable and astounded at the MBTA’s blatant lack of regard for the needs of its riders. First, I found that the trains added to the schedule were at the beginning, middle and end of the day, and not at peak travel times like extending the 5:15 train from South Station to Framingham or the 8:00am train that runs from Framingham to Boston to run at approximately 7:19 from Worcester. Given that there seemed to be no practical commuter schedule for someone working a regular 9 to 5 schedule in Boston, I called Customer Service to complain. I was told by the Customer Service representative that they obviously could not cater to everyone’s schedule, he was not sure what I would like for him to do. After citing my 9-5 schedule, I recommended that the additional trains be revisited. I was given no way to follow up and see how my complaint was recorded or would be acted on.

I was able, however, to make arrangements with my colleagues (which most commuters do not have the luxury of doing) to come into work at 9:30 and to leave work a little bit early, given that I would be able to do some work by train. This has been virtually impossible in the last two weeks. I have been on multiple trips wherein there is no WIFI train, and even on many that have carried WIFI trains, getting a signal is near impossible. Consulting with fellow passengers, I have been told that they are able to get a WIFI signal about 1 in 10 times. While in comparison to many rider’s issues, a lack of wireless seems mundane, it is my only opportunity to have an 11 hour instead of a 12 hour day. Moreover, it was a large factor in my decision to gamble $250 per month on what has been publicly reviled as a failure nearly every day in local news.

With constant price hikes, little accountability, and continuously deteriorating service, I have to seriously consider driving to work. It would save me at least 2 hours a day, which in my line of work as a community organizer is precious. There are very few days that I am able to leave work on time, and on those days I want the dependability to know that I can get home when I plan to. Three times this week, a late train, either on the Commuter Rail or the Red Line which takes me from JFK/UMASS to South Station has caused me to get home later than anticipated, today by a full hour because of a late train on the red line. This is incredibly frustrating when I already have a 12 hour day and little time to even eat dinner and shower before having to go to bed to get up for an early train.

I am not writing in such detail because I think that my trials, tribulations and outright anger are any more worthy than anyone else’s. I write in such a manner because it seems to me that the MBTA has forgotten that it is serving people. I am writing in such detail because the weight of this problem is all of the frustration detailed above multiplied by over 1 million trips per month. Perhaps what is most upsetting, however, is how well known and well documented these issues and customer’s discontentment is, and how little has changed because of it. Fare hike after fare hike has gone by with little consideration for the vocal outcry of the customers. There is no transparency to how decisions are made within the T and now accountability to the needs and desires of riders who pay for this negligently mismanaged system. In the 3 years that I have been dependent on MBTA service, I would have been fired several times if I were not privileged enough to have specialized jobs with some degree of flexibility. Those in the service industry or other working class careers do not have that luxury and have to plan their work and parenting around a callously unresponsive and unreliable transportation system.

In my estimation, through my own experience and conversations with other customers, the MBTA consistently infringes on every single one of their five customer rights in their “Customer Bill of Rights.”

You (sic) right to on-time service

I don’t even think it’s necessary to justify this one with statistics, but last October, the Worcester/Framingham line, which I am now dependant on every single day, had less than a 50% on time performance rating. The line is on Wikipedia for its poor performance rating. The standard for acceptable on-time performance for the commuter rail is 95%. On the other hand, the standard for acceptable on-time performance for buses, which constitute much of the travel in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, is only 60%.

Your right to safe service

Today there was another crash on the green line. The number of accidents on the MBTA transit system is incredibly troubling. Further, working with young people, I am all too aware of the dangers of the buses and some subway routes. Citing multiple shooting and stabbing incidents on buses and orange line trains, many feel uneasy taking public transportation.

Your right to courteous, clean, accessible, and dependable service

I will say that most of the time, I have courteous service from MBTA employees, though the stress of dealing with multiple customer complaints does seem to try their patience, and they rarely have answers to my or anyone else’s questions. The utter lack of dependability system wide is astounding. If the MBTA’s profits were dependant on performance in the same way as any other industry, there is no way that customers would have to deal with such inadequacy or the agency would simply fold.

Your right to be notified of significant service delays

What is a significant service delay? The MBTA considers a train less than thirty minutes late within their “on-time performance.” Again, no where else would this be acceptable. Further, I cannot count the number of times that I have sat on a subway track for 10, 15 even 20 minutes without really having any idea what was going on or how long we would be there.

Your right to be heard

This is perhaps the most enraging to me personally, and many others that I speak to. Despite many community projects, like the T-Rider’s Union (TRU), constant media coverage, and vocal customer dissatisfaction, the MBTA seems to have a free pass to explain all of their negligence away. If customers truly had a voice, we would not be subject to the gross mismanagement of a vital public service.

It is for all of these reasons that I urge you to call for the immediate resignation of MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas. I am not, as some would claim, blaming the General Manager for all the T’s problems. I am, however, citing an inability to effectively manage the organization. He is clearly not performing in his job and as a customer and a tax-payer I am demanding that my rights be finally taken into account.

Most Sincerely,

Cara Lisa Powers