The MBTA owns and operates one of the oldest and largest publictransportation agencies in the US, serving 233 million trips in Fiscal Year2023. The MBTA’s services include bus, light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail,ferry, and paratransit.
MBTA customer experience describes the reliability, comfort, accessibility, and other service qualities experienced by MBTA riders in FY23.
In July 2020, in accordance with FTA final rule 49 CFR 673, the MBTA published a revised Transit Safety Plan which utilizes Safety Management Systems (SMS) principals to ensure the safety of customers, employees, contractors, and the public.1 The plan, which is reviewed and updated annually, provides strategic and management performance objectives to affirm and execute the MBTA’s commitment to provide a safe, reliable, and sustainable regional transportation service, and ensures compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and appropriate industry best practices. Since the plan’s publication, the MBTA has continued to implement SMS across the authority, through the development
In accordance with FTA requirements, the MBTA completes annual Transit Asset Management (TAM) performance measures for Rolling Stock, Equipment, Facilities, and Infrastructure – Track to document the agency’s asset inventory and system condition. This information is reported to the FTA’s National Transit Database (NTD) each year. The MBTA uses FTA-defined performance measures and annual targets to monitor asset condition, determine optimum levels of asset investment (such as preventative maintenance), and develop condition goals per asset type across the agency. In moving towards a proactive “predict and prevent” asset management strategy, key future advancements will include digital tracking, automated inspections, and
Operating Budget The fare recovery ratio is the revenue received from fares and passes divided by total operational expenses, excluding expenses due to debt. This measures how much of the cost of providing transit services is paid directly by MBTA riders. The FY23 fare recovery ratio was 21 percent, a small increase from 19 percent in FY22 but still significantly lower than 34 percent in FY20 and 43 percent in FY19 before the pandemic. In order to address this situation, the MBTA is investigating numerous efforts to stimulate public transit usage as well as reduce fare evasion to improve revenue
The expansive service and prominent regional position of the MBTA means it has significant potential to alleviate congestion and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from single-occupancy vehicles through mode shift — trips taken on transit that may have otherwise been taken by car. Measures such as ridership provide context for mode shift, while GHG emissions reductions and bus electrification efforts work to advance healthy and sustainable transportation in the region. Ridership Ridership measures the number of rides the MBTA system provides each year. In accordance with industry standard, ridership is measured as unlinked passenger trips (UPT), which reflect each time
