Baker Says Taking a Symbolic T Ride Would Be Dishonest
Although Governor Charlie Baker has not ridden the MBTA since becoming governor, doing so now as a symbolic gesture would be “not honest,’’ Baker said Thursday.
The comments came during an MBTA-heavy interview on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio during their regular “Ask the Governor’’ segment. Baker spoke about the MBTA’s struggles, the potential for tax raises to fix the transit system, and how his administration is getting more involved.
Baker rode the T and commuter rail lines for more than a decade in his post-college years, but his lack of recent rides was the target of criticism from The Boston Globe’s Shirley Leung last week. Leung contrasted Baker with Green Line-riding former Governor Michael Dukakis to argue that the governor wasn’t taking the MBTA’s issues seriously.
“Maybe by traveling in the seats of more than a million daily T riders can Baker truly understand their frustration because he’s been acting like the T is not his problem,’’ she wrote.
On Thursday, Baker dismissed a ride on the T as empty symbolism, and said he and other administration members were more valuable working on coordination with transit leaders than posing for photo-ops. However, he did say that next week he and other officials would go onto station platforms to see what the experience of waiting for a train is like firsthand.
“I’m gonna need to be more engaged, my people will need to be more engaged with the T. Period,’’ Baker said.
The MBTA released its plans on Wednesday night to have almost all train lines open and operating by Monday morning. Baker reiterated that timeline and said his team has worked “pretty aggressively’’ with the MBTA in recent weeks amid the snow-caused slowdown.
“That is for the most part on a collaborative basis,’’ he said. “If the T didn’t want us there, we wouldn’t be there.’’
Finally, Baker rejected a caller’s question asking him whether he would consider raising taxes to fix the MBTA’s struggles.
“The thing I find so disappointing about this, is [people] say ‘We should just raise taxes,’’’ Baker said, adding that he’d like to learn more about the reasons behind the MBTA’s costs first. “This notion that we should just automatically push that button first before we do any of that [analysis] just strikes me as odd.’’
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