By Chris Gelnaw, BC Heights Newspaper

1/31/05 - The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is faced with a critical and pressing problem: how to cut costs without taking away from the experience for T riders. This question was brought about by the financial crisis facing them: a $16 million budget deficit. To resolve this issue, the MBTA decided to reduce Green Line trains to one driver, instead of the two or three that have been previously used. This was not the first of the MBTA's attempts to cut costs. In the past few weeks the MBTA has also gotten rid of some night bus and harbor ferry services.

The plan would do away with about 100 jobs and save the Authority anywhere from $4 to $8 million annually. Along with this policy, passengers would be allowed to board through the front and back doors of each car. Previously, only the front door had been used to collect the fee. The MBTA hopes that this would create less crowding and shorter trips.

This radical adjustment in policy did not come without a backlash. First, 100 former employees would be losing their jobs, jobs which they had been loyal to for a great number of years. The union representing the trolley workers also brought up other possible negative affects of the action. The union pointed out that removing these workers from back cars could create unsafe conditions for the passengers on board, in addition to the financial problem of the ease with which passengers could board and get off the trolley without paying the fee. So, in the long run, this move might end up hurting, rather than helping, the MBTA's problems.

Steve MacDougall, president of the Boston Carmen's Union, discussed the public safety issues the change brought about. With only one driver, they would not be able to notice a person running through the back cars, someone caught in one of the doors on the rear cars, or even when a car has hit one of the back cars. MacDougall also added that the policy would only worsen the Green Line's current problems with delays and equipment problems.

"The Green Line right now has a body in every car, and they're barely pulling it off. You're telling me it's going to be better with only one person?" MacDougall said to The Boston Globe. "If their claim is they're having fiscal difficulty, they're going to stop collecting fares or operate on the honor system?"

The Green Line has the most passengers of all of the T lines. Of the line's 1,266 trips every weekday, only 129 are with one-car trains. Additionally, all of the 363 operators perform many functions. They can be pilots in the lead car, or trailers in the back cars. They each collect fares, open doors, and help with breaking.

Riding with only one driver on public transportation lines, however, is very common in other cities. Joe Pesaturo, the MBTA spokesman, said to The Boston Globe that Boston and Philadelphia are the only North American transit systems that do not allow only one driver per trolley.

Along with cutting drivers, the T will create a new automated fare collection system. Passengers will get fare cards instead of tokens or cash, and they will merely have to sign in with these cards.

"With the advent of automated fare collection and pressing need to contain costs, the time is right to halt this perfunctory practice," Pesaturo said. "Single-person train operation allows us to reduce unnecessary expenses, while reducing crowding and shortening trip times."

To help with safety on the T, the MBTA is also adding 25 police officers to its current 247, in part to attempt to stop fare-skipping. All Green Line trains will also have intercom systems installed in them to be able to talk to the lone driver.

The MBTA does not intend for major layoffs to occur, but rather intends to use the workers in other areas.

Steve MacDougall added to his disappointment with the decision.

He believes the action went against the cooperation the union had with the authority.

"I think that the things that brought us together and led to collaboration, I think there is the beginnings of a breakdown in that," MacDougall said. "For me it's not about trying to protect jobs that exist, or that members will be laid off."

"Post 9/11, a public transit agency is talking about diminishing staffing levels on its light-rail system that has lines that run under the Prudential Center, the Boston Public Library, City Hall, the State House, Boston Common, and the Public Garden," said MacDougall, commenting on his worry about the passengers' safety.

The MBTA maintains that the proposed cuts will not compromise safety for its passengers, among whom are the many Boston College students who rely on the service.

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