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Last week, the MBTA debuted a new podcast, "Spilling the T," billed by host and T staffer Andrew Cassidy as a regular "deep dive" into the big issues facing the system. The first guest? General Manager Phillip Eng, who made for a more engaging interviewee than some might have expected.
Instead of coming across as a bland, guarded bureaucrat, Eng was refreshingly forthright about the T's ongoing struggles, from the slowdowns that frustrate riders to safety concerns that have put workers and the public at risk. At the same time, he spoke with genuine enthusiasm about the satisfaction that comes from working collaboratively to solve massive, seemingly intractable problems. And — notably — he stressed that better communication between the T and its customers will be an essential part of improving the system.
"We certainly can do better at sharing why we are doing things. ... The more information we share, the better feedback we get," Eng said. He added: "If people don't have information, that's where the frustration comes in ... the lack of trust, the lack of confidence in us."
If you were a former T rider who's been steering clear lately, Eng's pitch just might have been enough to make you give it another try. But the audience wasn't nearly as big as it could have been — because, less than two hours after it was posted, the episode was wiped from podcast platforms. Fortunately, you can still hear it thanks to StreetsblogMASS, which found someone who'd downloaded the episode and then reposted the audio.
The T told State House News Service that the inaugural episode was posted in error, and that "Spilling the T" will return soon. But that explanation raises other questions. If last Thursday wasn't the intended drop date, what was? If there weren't any problems with the interview, why not leave it online once it was sent out into the world? When can we expect the episode to resurface? And did anyone involved consider the implications of disappearing — almost instantaneously — an interview stressing the importance of transparency and good communication?
There's another key piece of context here, and it involves the Healey administration. As a candidate, Maura Healey said she'd stop claiming the exemption to the state's public records law invoked by past governors. Now that she's in office, though, she continues to do so while handling requests on a case-by-case basis — effectively the same approach used by her predecessor, Charlie Baker.
And yet, when the topic comes up, Healey continues to tout the virtues of transparency, including when it comes to the MBTA. During a photo op on the Red Line earlier this year, Healey said of the T: "I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything. ... We will be transparent with whatever the facts are."
In this particular case, though, the facts remain murky. Here's another question: might someone in the Healey administration have balked at something Eng said during his interview — a criticism of the Baker years or the present moment, say, or a pledge of future improvement? (At one point, Eng linked the T's problems to "years and years of disinvestment," a characterization that could rankle Baker and other policymakers.) Might that have played a role in the episode's disappearance?
A Healey spokesperson didn't immediately respond when asked if the governor's office was involved in some way. A T spokesperson reiterated that the inaugural episode was posted prematurely, and said it would be reposted "soon," followed by additional episodes. When that happens, you may want to listen as quickly as you can.
