Editorial: Transportation in Massachusetts needs real fixes, not ‘possibilities’

If you thought that the state’s Department of Transportation needed to tackle the many safety and service issues that have plagued the troubled agency, you’d be wrong.

According to the Healey Administration, what’s needed is an Office of Possibility.

As the State House News reported, this new office is intended to “bring experimentation” and “different ideas” to the DOT.

“Government works in sort of a probability mindset, right? Where you’re taking very little risk, you’re working with experts that are already known to you. So the theory here of a possibility government, is can we take slightly larger risks, knowing that not everything is going to work out? That failure is an outcome. But can we do that on a scale that is small enough where we learn, and we improve the thing until we get it right?” said new Chief of Possibilities Kristopher Carter..

In simpler times, that was called “throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.”

This Office of Possibility is made up of Carter and Deputy Chief Possibility Officer Jaclyn Youngblood.

Coming up with “different ideas” pays well, at least in the Healey administration. Carter will make $160,000 this year, and Youngblood will make $138,633. That’s nearly $300,000 worth of thought.

Those who take public transportation in Massachusetts have lots of thoughts – and they’ll give them to you for free. The “possibilities” they care about are whether the train will show up and get them where they need to be without breaking down, catching fire, derailing or just giving up the ghost along the way.

They also think about the possibility that the escalator will go haywire when they get to the T station, or part of the ceiling will fall on them.

They’re also none too happy about service cuts to bus routes amid a shortage of drivers. Under a new agreement with the Boston Carmen’s Union, the MBTA is allowing new drivers to start at 40 hours per week, thus bumping the annual starting salary to $46,196.

The T could hire six bus drivers for the Office of Possibility’s payroll.

The Office of Possibility hasn’t been idle since starting last month, launching its first “prototype” project.

MassDOT extended what had been a Boston-level program called “Browse, Borrow, Board,” partnering with the Boston Public Library to offer free digital content for public transit riders during the summer-long Sumner Tunnel shutdown.

Carter and Youngblood went out to 18 greater Boston communities to put down sidewalk decals that feature a QR code that riders can scan to access digital library content without a library card. The decals are focused on areas most affected by the tunnel closure.

That’s lovely. Not sure how that affects the safety and/or reliability of the T, but at least as passengers cool their heels on a stalled train, they’ll have something nice to read.

Safety probes, panels, and critiques from transportation experts have given the DOT lots of ideas of what needs to done to get the agency up to speed to best serve the riding public.

What’s the possibility of substantive action being taken to make our transportation system one that  passengers feel confident in taking?