Crumbling rail ties. Faulty power systems. Dirty stations. Balky escalators. Reduced train speeds. Yawning deficits. Demands to expand, even when there isn’t nearly enough money to maintain the current system. Sound familiar?
It’s the story of the T . . . and of just about every other public transportation system in the country. Leaders of five of the nation’s biggest (and oldest) transit agencies — numbers two, four, five, six, and nine in ridership — gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston last week and swapped stories about the shared pressures and challenges they face.