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Keller @ Large: MBTA Horror Show A Hint Of What's Ahead?

BOSTON (CBS) - Public transit customers will ride free on the last Friday in April, and regulars will get 15-percent off their monthly passes in May as the MBTA tries to kiss and make up with riders tortured by the system's collapse this winter.

The strategy - wait until the furious customers have a chance to cool down, for memories of their commuting nightmares to fade, and for service to be completely restored for awhile, if that's possible. It's a good life lesson – give your significant other's mood a chance to improve before you try to kiss them.

But it can't be a substitute for doing what's necessary to make sure another nightmare like this one never happens again.

And a new report on the T's problems from the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation makes it clear this winter's horror show was just a hint of what's ahead if drastic action isn't taken.

The report tells us a lot we already knew, that the T suffers from "a stark mismatch between spending and revenues, old equipment, an inoperative asset management system, little public accountability, and even less transparency."

But I wasn't completely aware of the fact that unless the status quo is radically and immediately changed, the T budget gap will grow so fast over the next few years that no improvements in service or reliability can reasonably be expected.

Do you want to put up with even half of what we just saw for the rest of this decade?

Not me.

That's why the end of this month, when the governor's special commission will give him their reform blueprint, is a crucial time for our state.

Gov. Baker, the legislature, and T managers must get this act together, or concede an appalling fact – that Massachusetts, the place that thinks of itself as a standard-setter for enlightened governance, cannot deliver on one of its most basic commitments to the public.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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