Driscoll Reacts to Another Missed Deadline and Silence from the MBTA

MARCH 5, 2024

Rep. Driscoll recently went on the record with Chris Van Buskirk from The Boston Herald, responding to the recent lack of updates from the MBTA on the Mattapan Highspeed Line Trolley Refurbishment and Transformation Projects.

Van Buskirk’s piece, Delayed Improvements to Mattapan Trolley weigh heavy on Milton after lawsuit, includes statements from Representative Bill Driscoll Jr. and other area elected officials.

Driscoll’s full statement is below:

"The MBTA would rather play games by changing the signage at Milton Station or on their website to confuse people, rather than meet the commitments they made to completing these vital trolley refurbishment and line transformation projects. The MBTA is back to failing to keep pace and failing to keep the elected and public officials informed every step of the way on the projects as promised.

There has been a signage change at Milton Station without explanation. These days the MBTA is referring to the trolley line as the redline and as a subway in their signage and website descriptions.

The trolley line is not a subway. The trolley line connects to Ashmont Station, the terminus of the redline subway Ashmont branch.

The new signage at Milton Station refers to the ‘Mattapan - RedLine;’ while you can ride a trolley from Milton Station to connect to redline service, this is not a subway, it's an antique 1940s trolley line lacking ADA compliance with no realistic plan to modernize and maintain service.

The MBTA is playing games instead of building the necessary infrastructure to bring a quirky antique trolley into compliance with modern transportation standards.

The MBTA needs to make clear that they are actively working on completing the trolley refurbishment and line transformation projects because their silence is beyond concerning. Their own website says the third refurbished trolley will arrive in the fall of 2023. It is now March 2024. Still no third trolley. The MBTA’s track record of inaction here for both projects is unacceptable and their overall lack of communication is infuriating.

The Herald story has status updates in it from the MBTA that have been withheld from area elected officials and the public despite repeated questions and requests that the MBTA meet the regular schedule of updates they committed to.

Changing station signage to support a narrative does absolutely nothing to help disabled riders utilize the antique trolleys and similarly does nothing to ensure residents, that in a more densely developed theoretical future neighborhood, could get anywhere without more cars on our already over-utilized roads.”

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