MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott is defending her controversial decision to shut down rail service due to the snowstorm, stranding thousands of workers who depend on public transportation, making a stunning admission during a press conference Tuesday.
“I have had no direct conversation with the governor," Scott said. "I can only say that everybody is frustrated. I have had no conversation with the governor over the past three weeks of everything going on."
Her statement was all the more surprising because Baker has been bashing the T’s lack of communication.
“We’re going to need to work with and hear from the T with respect to what their operating plan with respect to the situation moving forward,” Baker said Tuesday, following Scott's press conference .
Scott got visibly upset at the press conference. She constantly interrupted herself, paced back and forth, and at times she became so passionate she inadvertently stepped away from the microphones.
“I've been around 40 years," she said. "I've been through hurricanes. World Trade Center bombings. Tornadoes coming. And all that. So this isn’t this woman’s first rodeo."
Scott blamed the T’s problems on record snowfall and a lack of investment from the state.
"We are running an extremely aged system that is getting a pounding every single day,” she said.
Baker has repeatedly called the T’s performance unacceptable.
He’s accused Scott and the staff at the T for making promises they could not keep.
“They didn’t live up to the representations they made to us and to others over the past two weeks,” he said.
Baker sounded angry all weekend. Then he shifted his tone Tuesday, when reporters asked him why he’s not speaking with Scott.
“I don’t have any direct authority over the MBTA at all," he said. "I have one seat on the board.”
He says instead he’s been communicating with her through Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack.
Former Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, chose Scott. She’s the first African-American woman to lead the MBTA.
Baker is continuing to sidestep questions on Scott’s leadership.
Scott has said the MBTA is facing a massive backlog in maintenance. Some red line cars are nearly 50 years old. The Orange Line cars date back to the 1980s.
And then the MBTA owes nearly $9 billion in debt and interest, some of it stemming from the Big Dig. This fiscal year, nearly a quarter of the T’s budget will go to servicing debt.
Scott is calling for "systemic, planned, serious, bold reinvestment in this doggone transportation system," she said.
But the prospects don’t look good. Baker says residents have been taxed enough to help pay for the T. And historically the legislature hasn’t given the necessary funding for the T because the system only benefits one part of Massachusetts — the Greater Boston area.
