In a recent article in the Boston Globe (MBTA overtime spending spiked last year), President Jimmy O’Brien set the record straight that the surge in overtime is do to understaffing. Below is his quote from the article.

Well, there’s the same amount of work to be done to run and maintain the buses and the trains, but there are hundreds of fewer workers than there were three years ago. For the life of me, I don’t understand why the MBTA is surprised that having fewer people to do the same amount of work means each person has to work more hours. They need to hire more employees. It is really that simple.”