The nearly 8 feet of snow that have fallen on the City of Boston and much of the state have brought the MBTA system to its knees, and exposed an even bigger issue with management. The problems plaguing the MBTA in recent weeks have left many riders and officials in the Boston area and beyond scratching their heads and wondering how a major U.S. city can experience an almost complete failure and shutdown of services on its transit system.
WGBH News thought it may be helpful to reach out to a former official who, in the past, has led the state through a similar situation. Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis joined WGBH Radio’s Morning Edition host Bob Seay to chat about the MBTA and the blizzard of 1978.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On the importance of the public transportation system in Boston
It should not take some something like this to remind us that our public transportation system is just an absolutely critical part of the quality of life in Boston and the metropolitan area and our economy. It is just so important.
This is the culmination of a long period of a failure to invest in the system, and changes in management. It's sad because this is a great system. It’s absolutely critical to the success of Boston, Massachusetts, and New England. Boston’s renaissance and its boom these days has everything to do with the fact that we stopped building highways and started investing in transit.
For a guy who’s been riding the system since I was about 5 years old, it’s pretty distressing -- as I’m sure it is for an awful lot of people whose livelihoods are being threatened by the fact that they can’t get to work and, can't get things done.
There’s nothing mysterious about this. Either we understand how important it is and take it seriously and manage it well and invest in it, or we continue to have these kinds of problems. It shouldn’t take some something like this to remind us that our public transportation system is just an absolutely critical part of the quality of life in Boston and the metropolitan area; our economy; it’s just so important. I don’t know that we should have to have a reminder of that, but it doesn’t get done on a wing and a prayer. You have to have great leadership, and you have to continue to invest in the system… there’s no reason why we can’t manage and maintain that system well and at the same time give folks in Southern Massachusetts a train; give folks in the western part of the state a rail connection to Boston; I mean, this is critical. it’s critical for Boston; it’s critical for Massachusetts; it’s critical for New England.
There is nothing mysterious about this. Either we understand how important [the T] is, take it seriously, manage it well, and invest in it, or we continue to have these kinds of problems.
On who should be responsible for fixing the T's problems
It’s the governor. I don’t mean just this governor. But it’s the governor in the state who’s responsible for the T. He picks the people; he picks the Secretary of Transportation, who, in turn, is responsible for running that operation, among other things. So Charlie Baker has got to step up here.
The first thing that the Governor and the new Secretary of State have to do is go out there and -- as quickly as possible -- and find themselves a first-grade general manager. There are people out there. Then they have to put a team together that knows what it’s doing and can operate that system. And they have to go back to legislature and to the people of Massachusetts and say ‘Look folks, we can’t do this on the cheap...' We’ve got to decide that this is worth investing in. And that it is critical to the economic future of the state. That's gonna take some additional revenue. And people have to step up and make that decision.
On handling the blizzard of 1978
This is not rocket science. But it requires excellent leadership; good people who are committed to the system and will stick with it; and a governor who cares deeply about this.
Look, we had a problem in 1978, as I think anybody who was around back then knows. I practically shut the state down for a week, but we managed to get service back. As a matter of fact, during the week where I basically banned all traffic, it was the T that carried people.
So there’s no mystery to this, but it requires first-rate people. I had the best state transportation secretary in the country. I mean nobody was better than Frederick Salvucci. He surrounded himself with top-notch people, who, by the way, stuck around for years. We had a great team and they did their job.
So this isn’t rocket science, but it requires excellent leadership; good people who are committed to the system and will stick with it; and a governor who cares deeply about this - as I’m sure Charlie [Baker] does.
On the infamous sweater Dukakis wore during the blizzard of 1978
Actually, I had a bunch of them. People say ‘Do you still have that sweater?’ I actually had four or five of them. What happened was, after the snow stopped falling and we got back on track and got back to normal, every time I spoke at an event they gave me a sweater. I mean, I must’ve ended up with 20 sweaters. I finally took about a dozen of them, took them over to Morgan Memorial [Goodwill Industries] and said ‘Look, give these sweaters to the people who need them.’
