Boston’s Little Dig
11th February 2015
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA or “the T” for short) has a problem. It has a $3 billion maintenance backlog, and must spend $470 million a year just to keep that backlog from growing. It has all kinds of wonderful plans to close that backlog, but those plans are all in the future. In the meantime, its latest budget proposal spares less than $100 million for maintenance.
My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
Of course, the extension wasn’t supposed to cost $2 billion or increase ridership by just 0.5 percent. Back in 2005, the major investment study for the project estimated it would cost just $390 million (see page 5-55). That’s in 2005 dollars, but adjusting for inflation to today’s dollars increases it to about $450 million, less than a quarter of the actual cost. Projected annual operating costs have also nearly quadrupled from $9.9 million in 2005 to $36.9 million today. The 2005 study also predicted the line would increase increase daily ridership by more than 14,000 trips, or 1 percent, not just 0.5 percent (same page).
That’s because (a) public works projects always cost multiples of their original estimates, because people think of taxpayer funds as ‘free money’ and wet their beaks at every opportunity, and (b) public transport always goes from where you aren’t to where you don’t want to be, so very few people ride it. Reality is a stone bitch about that sort of thing.