When state Representative William M. Straus and Senator Thomas McGee finished reading the governor’s report on how to fix the managerial woes at the MBTA, they wondered how certain recommendations won out over others.
“We don’t know how those recommendations were formulated,” said Straus, who has served as cochairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation with McGee since 2011. “I am curious about what kind of discussion they had. Did they vote three-to-two on some things? Did they arrive at a consensus?”
Straus and McGee have spent years shepherding transportation reforms through the Legislature, but they will now begin answering the larger questions of how to shape up the MBTA. While the panel recommended a number of specific legislative fixes, Straus and McGee suggested during a joint interview that they will look at a number of cost-saving measures and reforms not addressed in the MBTA report.
“I can assure you it’s not the only playbook,” Straus said of the report.
McGee noted the MBTA, the largest consumer of electricity in Massachusetts, has yet to tackle how to cut energy costs that have quadrupled since 2000.
Straus questioned whether the panel’s recommendation for a new Fiscal and Management Control Board is a better option than making the governor directly responsible for the T.
“In a certain sense, I was a little surprised that they didn’t approach what is the obvious question out there,” said Straus, a Mattapoisett Democrat. “Why do we need any kind of board in the way of the direct management of the T?”
Jeffrey Mullan, transportation secretary under former governor Deval Patrick, said McGee and Straus are primed for taking on the variety of troubles plaguing the MBTA. The two are part of a Legislature that in the last 10 years has passed numerous laws aimed at transportation reform, he said.
“In terms of how they are similar, they have taken a keen interest in Massachusetts transportation from a statewide perspective,” Mullan said. “They have gone way beyond their district’s boundaries. A lot of people don’t do that.”
Mullan described McGee as someone who focuses on historical trends with an acute interest in federal funding and metropolitan planning organizations. Straus is “a careful lawyer,” Mullan said, “He is a person who says what he means and means what he says. He has never, in my time, overcommitted to doing anything and has consistently done what he has set out do.”
Straus and McGee are both former prosecutors and struck up a friendship during their years working together in the Legislature. After the presidential election in 2000, they ran into each other in Florida, where they had both volunteered to re-count ballots. They share a fondness for history. They speak about how transportation around the country has a symbiotic relationship to the local economy and can dramatically change the character of communities.
“You can go anywhere in Massachusetts and the local business leaders or local officials will be able to identify a transportation project that they are sure will transform their community,” Straus said.
McGee said that while growing up in Lynn, he was able to see firsthand how a controversial project that never happened had a long-term economic impact. Interstate 95 was initially proposed to run through the city, but the project was halted in the 1970s.
“I remember homes were being moved, and all that planning for that roadway to come through Lynn, and then it not happening,” McGee said. “And the reality of what happened was that it isolated our community in many ways. We have commuter rail that comes through our community, but it’s not the connection the community really needs.”
Straus believes the Legislature will be able to institute a number of reforms to the MBTA before next winter. McGee said the effort to reform the MBTA will require reform and revenue building simultaneously.
“The panel’s report — as well as many reports before it — says that those go hand in hand,” said McGee, who is also the chairman of the state Democratic Party. “The challenge will be to make sure we are able to do both together and not wait three or four years and say, ‘Let’s put some management pieces in place and we’ll see about some dollars later.’ ”
Part of shoring up the MBTA should include a careful examination of other arms of government, Straus said. During a recent oversight hearing, Straus and McGee learned the Massachusetts Port Authority is likely not paying enough for the Silver Line service to Logan International Airport. Straus questioned whether the MBTA ferry service should be handed over to an agency like Massport, arguing it may have better experience for water-based operations.
“We should always be open to looking at any of these agencies and asking ourselves regularly: What’s their mission? What are they supposed to be doing?” Straus said.
Both lawmakers said they hope the public remains engaged with transportation issues as the Legislature begins to form its proposals. The Joint Committee on Transportation will get its own insight into the MBTA report when members of the special panel will answer questions at an April 27 hearing, according to Straus and McGee.
The report did confirm for Straus and McGee reforms they already supported. For example: A 2013 law assigned the Massachusetts Department of Transportation the task of issuing a report on using value-capture revenue, a method of revenue building now being recommended for the MBTA.