James Aloisi, former Massachusetts secretary of transportation

Last week, former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary James Aloisi wrote a detailed article (“Shutdown process costly for the T“) for Commonwealth Magazine on the complicated and costly process the MBTA has to go through to shut its service down every night. The article cites independent data sources that show the process costs the MBTA $3.8 million dollars a year. Aloisi’s point: there’s got to be a better and more efficient solution.

Days later, Jeff Gonneville, the Chief Operating Officer for the MBTA responded to Commonwealth and Aloisi. Gonneville’s response contains no facts – none – but claims Aloisi’s estimate is off, by $3.3 million. Gonneville’s argument uses a nice round number. He says the nightly shutdown costs just $500,000. He invites readers to go to MBTA’s home page, where no data are available.

We’ve seen this movie before. It seems that once again, the MBTA is providing the public with fictional data without ever showing us where its numbers come from. We’re reminded of our 7th grade math teacher who, in this instance, would say “the MBTA needs to start showing its work.” The public deserves a fact-based and transparent discussion of how to improve the MBTA.

Facts matter. Make believe math won’t fix our public transportation system.