Thread by @adamtvaccaro

Where are we on improving the #MBTA? @BruceMohl asks MBTA chair Joseph Aiello. “Still at the very beginning.”

“We were in as dark a hole as you can imagine.”

Aiello defends the T’s plan as a “radical transformation,” esp on the Red Line, where the goal is to get to service every three mins by mid-2020s, almost doubling capacity.

He also said (as officials have before) that past estimates on repair backlog of $7.3b are probably low.

Aiello adds the $7.3b backlog is about replacing the T’s existing infrastructure, not improving it. Those Red Line improvements, for example, are more expensive than just replacing “like for like.”

Is there enough money? Aiello answers the same way other officials have in recent months: There’s enough for the next five years.

But, “at some point it would be helpful if the Legislature would send a signal” if they’ll help spend on big Green Line improvements in the future.

.@brucemohl zeroes in: what about after five years? Will MBTA need to ask for more money?

Aiello: “At the appropriate time.” And he has a lot of caveats. T must figure out updated repair costs first. He notes that few transit agencies are funded decades in the future.

Revenue discussion will also be a reflection of how fast Greater Boston wants non-repair improvements, like vast changes to Green Line for more capacity or changes to commuter rail service, Aiello adds.

“We are starting to become lame ducks,” Aiello adds, with MBTA board due to expire July 2020.

“None of us are happy with the progress on bus,” Aiello says in response to @cdempc question about whether there’s enough focus on regional congestion and transpo issues. Says there’s been improvements with bus lanes. “The gospel’s been spread.”

But MBTA staff is thin, he says, so people planning future of bus get wrapped up in day to day too often. And there’s no more room in garages for more buses, and no towns want more garages. Says board gets a C- on buses so far.

Aiello forecasts “a lot of discussion” around Red-Blue connector in 2019.

MBTA expansion? He’s stressing high-frequency commuter rail as one possible solution. “That is probably as big a change...as the period when we expanded the Red and Orange lines.”

Also, he suggests the state has $$ for South Coast Rail to New Bedford/Fall River. State has so far not detailed that money and he declines to detail now.

Aiello: commuter rail pricing probably needs rethinking. Commuting world where rich guy comes in at 7:30 and leaves at 5 and can afford $300 a month is over, he says.

“Commuter rail pricing after 2020 will undoubtedly be very different,” Aiello says.