Commonwealth Magazine | By Bruce Mohl | Nov 10, 2016

A MEMBER OF THE MBTA’S oversight board said the transit agency’s commuter rail operator was on the verge of walking away from its $2.68 billion contract earlier this year when state officials agreed to pay the company at least $66 million extra over the course of the next six years.

Brian Lang, a union official who was appointed to the Fiscal Management and Control Board by Gov. Charlie Baker, portrayed the situation with Keolis Commuter Services very differently than other T officials did when the extra payments were authorized in July. The officials insisted the state was paying for new services that were needed to make the contract work better, but Lang said the T was in a difficult bargaining position.

Lang said the lesson he took away from the situation was that the T should not privatize core services and give up valuable in-house expertise. “We have other contracts out there where we’re in a similar position. I don’t want to see us get into that position with the operation of the bus lines, the heavy rail, light rail, or the maintenance. If we lose our expertise completely – and I think over the decades we have lost a fair amount – we’re going to be beholden to the private sector. If that happens, I think that could be a disaster for the T.”

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