By Andy Metzger

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON — Saying he is "done with excuses" after meeting with Keolis representatives, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday he expects better commuter rail service as his Republican colleagues in the Senate offered a plan that would give the governor greater control over the Boston area’s transit agency.

"The legislature cannot sit idly by as commuters continue to feel the pain of a failed public transportation system that they depend on day in and day out to get to work, home, school, and other appointments and destinations," Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said in a statement, asserting the recent cold and heavy snow have only "exasperated" the issues already hampering the MBTA.

Legislation unveiled by the six-member Senate GOP caucus would use state reserves to create a $25 million fund that could lend to the T interest-free and would establish a seven-member MBTA finance control board mostly under the control of Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore, a Baker appointee.

The T is currently overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Board of Directors, a seven-member board. All of the current MassDOT board members were appointed by former Gov. Deval Patrick except for Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, a member of Baker’s cabinet.

With the mandate to restore fiscal stability to the T, the control board would have authority over all MBTA appropriations and borrowings as well as personnel decisions and compensation of T officials.

The board would also have power over property acquisitions and sales, and the ability to suspend state law obligations. If the board failed to "restore fiscal stability" to the T, the secretary of administration and finance would be able to appoint a receiver, who would have the power to alter MBTA service and file for bankruptcy.

In addition to the Senate Republican caucus, Sen. James Timilty, a Walpole Democrat, has signed on as a co-sponsor, according to a Tarr spokesman.

Amid widespread problems on the transit system, MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott announced her resignation last Wednesday effective April 11 and later described her move as a "personal decision."

Similar to the MBTA, the commuter rail has only been able to provide limited runs following weeks of snow and cold that have damaged equipment and sidelined trains. Baker said riders need to be able to count on the schedules distributed by the commuter rail.

"I’m sort of done with excuses, OK. I want to hear what people are actually gonna do to get the riding public back to the point where people can depend on and rely on the service," Baker told reporters Wednesday. He said, "People plan their daily lives, their work schedules around this. And whatever schedule you run on, you better run on it accurately."

>>> For audio of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Keolis remarks advance to the 16:20 mark here: http://www.statehousenews.com/content/gallery/audio/2015/02-18Hainan.MP3 <<<

Cities and towns have banned parking and closed schools in response to the recent historic levels of snow that have hampered rail service and dominated the public’s attention in recent weeks.

Baker said discussion of how to improve the MBTA going forward would take "at least 30 days," and said the budget he plans to submit March is "unlikely" to include any transit fixes except on an "incremental level." Legislative action on the budget will likely feature efforts by lawmakers to change the state’s approach toward transit.

"Let’s face it: We got more snow in three weeks than at any point ever in the history of Massachusetts. You can’t ignore that as an issue in all this," Baker said. He said, "It’s school vacation this week, but next week everybody comes back to work and the thing better be working."

A MassINC Polling Group poll released Wednesday by WBUR showed that more voters in the Boston area assign blame for the T’s failures on the Legislature, past governors and MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott than on Baker.

"My favorite part of the poll was only 5 percent of the folks in the poll blame me for the problems," Baker said.

Speaking about efforts to return rail service throughout the MBTA, Baker said the general plan is to get tracks "shoveled out" as quickly as possible, which would allow the Red Line to re-open its leg to Braintree.

"Basically the goal is to get to Braintree, which is 20 miles of track," Baker said. With rail service down leading to Quincy and Braintree, shuttle buses have taken passengers from Braintree to the JFK-UMass station in Dorchester.

Crowds have massed at the Quincy Center train station, cascading towards shuttle buses and commuter rail trains as they pull into the station. Long lines of commuters waiting for shuttle buses have formed at the other Quincy MBTA stations, including in the Wollaston and North Quincy stations.

The Department of Correction is sending 96 inmates per day to clear snow, and each inmate is paid a daily rate of $3 to $4, according to Darren Duarte, spokesman for DOC. He said inmates are coming from the Pondville Correctional Center, MCI-Plymouth, the Boston pre-release program, a DOC farm facility in Concord and an alcohol and substance abuse center in Bridgewater.

On Wednesday the inmates were working between stations in Dorchester and North Quincy along the Red Line, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

The National Guard helped clear the tracks on the Green Line routes leading to Boston College and Jamaica Plain, according to the governor’s office. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency helped secure equipment to clear snow on the T.

The state is also seeking to assist Keolis, which has failed to meet performance measures since the state started fining the company four months ago.

After meeting with officials from the international transportation company Wednesday, Baker said Keolis gave him information about "bottlenecks" and said the state would try to help. According to Keolis, General Manager Tom Mulligan, Deputy General Manager Gerald Francis and General Manager of Keolis North America Eric Asselin attended the meeting with the governor.

After the meeting with Baker and Pollack, Keolis said the state and the train company worked on an "action plan" to help the commuter rail "begin operating a more reliable schedule."

Keolis said it needs 65 locomotives to run a regular schedule and the weather has knocked that number down to 46. More workers will help clear snow and ice from maintenance facilities and switch points, and the governor is bringing in additional equipment to help remove snow, Keolis said in a statement, which also said the company would seek to "improve customer communications."

"Since the beginning of the year, commuter rail passengers have been faced with delays, cancellations and overly crowded trains related primarily to weather and mechanical issues," the statement said.

Baker chief of staff Steven Kadish attended a meeting with Keolis and other staff Wednesday afternoon, according to a Baker aide.

After beating out longtime commuter rail contractor Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad last January, Keolis took over service in July. The first three months of the contract, Keolis was not subject to fines, and since then, starting in October, Keolis has nearly always hit the monthly cap of about $868,000 in fines.

The company has maxed-out fines for on-time performance monthly, and has usually reached the $434,425 penalty cap for performance in other areas, such as cleanliness and toilet operability, according to MassDOT spokesman Michael Verseckes. In December, Keolis was only fined $325,750 for performance measures unrelated to timeliness. In January, the company again reached the maximum penalties for on-time and performance measures. Annually performance fines are capped at about $10 million.

"I’ll be the first one to admit that our performance numbers are not good but at the same time, I think we all have to be understanding and realistic as to the conditions that we’re trying to operate under," Mulligan told the News Service last week.

Mulligan said the rails need improvements, including switch heaters, and said the company is eager to get new commuter rail locomotives online.

[Gintautas Dumcius contributed reporting]