WINCHESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak addressed some of the issues that the T has had over the past couple of months following a ground breaking on a new and improved Commuter Rail station in Winchester.
The MBTA also announced Thursday that shuttle buses will be replacing parts of the Orange Line throughout August due to construction at the Wellington Yard.
The MBTA has had a spate of problems over the past couple months, including a Green Line crash, battery failures in new Orange and Red Line trains which remain indefinitely out of service, and a man being dragged to death by a Red Line train.
“I viscerally understand how frustrating it can be. We are working hard to make the MBTA as safe as it can be and that has to be the priority,” said Poftak.
Poftak asked for patience from riders who are seeing long wait times on the Red, Orange and Blue Lines. Those lines are indefinitely running on weekend schedules because of staffing issues. According to Poftak, there is no end date for the disruption.
“There is not a firm date in mind. We will get back to the regular level of service on the Orange, Red and Blue (lines) when we believe it is safe to do so and when we have enough dispatchers to adequately staff the (system),” said Poftak.
According to the Federal Transit Administration, it is a lack of dispatchers that is leading to the longer wait times. The FTA recently slammed the MBTA for systemic safety issues, including requiring some dispatchers to work 20-hour shifts.
The MBTA said that it is looking to hire, but Poftak said hiring is a lengthy process.
“Even though we have people coming through the door, we then have to train them, it doesn’t translate immediately to more operators,” said Poftak.
Poftak said that the MBTA, like many other industries, is having trouble finding people to hire, leading them to offer a $10,000 incentive bonus.
The Federal Transit Administration will be issuing the MBTA its final report at the end of August.
“If I thought my departure would make the T safer, I would do it. I don’t think it will,” Poftak said. “We still have unfinished work to do in terms of making the T safer.”
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