One of the former directors of the TTC also did not own a car, as he said managers of a transit system should rely on their system to get around.

It is a very touchy subject. I know transit planners here in Toronto who plan transit everyday yet live in far far far exurban areas with very little transit.

Aren’t the organizational structures of these controlling boards very different location v. location? Do you posit some other form of organization that would weed out those who choose to drive to their board work, maybe elections or employing full time board members required to take the system by contract at whatever wage and benefits they had explicitly agreed to?

These sort of pieces tend, in my mind, to rather shallow analysis of the organizational problems of regional transit boards. Sort of a tabloid piece worthy of Rupert Murdoch perhaps.

That Grabauskas picture really pisses me off. I remember seeing that a while ago. You think with one of our former Governors (definitely not Romney) taking the T, we would have a transit inspired culture, but I think the Republicans were in power too long after that.

I guarantee you would see a drastic change in T funding if MBTA board members were stuck in between Red Line stops for 10 minutes or so everyday, for no particular reason whatsoever.

I think Grabauskas should be forced to take the Red Line or the “B” line all the way to the end once a week (during rush hour), just to keep his head in the right place.

As a visitor to DC, I used the Metro on all my trips. I do think that board members should try to use transit as much as possible.

True, but government can at the very least refuse to give transit officals SUVs to commute to work in.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view/2008_07_10_MBTA_boss_touts_T_but_takes_SUV/

I feel pissed every time I hear Grabauskas’ recorded voice over the loudspeaker on the MBTA.

The problem is that if transit is seen as “for poor people” and board members are necessarily positions of prestige and privilege, you’ve got yourself a disconnect. In Portland, at least for many destinations, it’s considered the most practical transportation choice – parking is in short supply, expensive, and it’s hard to get in and out of downtown Portland. And no one takes cabs here…

I don’t think you can “require” people to “regularly” take transit – how regular is regular? What’s the enforcement mechanism? Who’s checking up on them? I think pubicizing the fact that they don’t ride the transit facilities they’re ostensibly advocating for is a good first step – you couldn’t get elected mayor in Portland if someone had a quote of you saying, ““Why should I ride [the train] and inconvenience myself when I can ride in a car?” You might be able to get appointed to a transit authority board – but it’d cause the governor all kinds of stupid problems he probably would rather bypass.