After the state auditor found a $101 million discrepancy in fare records on Sept. 27, MBTA acting general manager Jonathan Davis told Greater Boston’s Emily Rooney that the discrepancy was not due to theft but rather to a software glitch in the machines that record deposited fares. "I have been out on the system and have viewed the security surrounding both the collection of that cash and the transportation of that to the money room for eventual deposit in the bank." Davis said. "It is done through a very secure environment."
In the last 5 years, the automated fare collection system tallied $225 million, but the T deposited only $123 million. Davis said that the MBTA would hold the fare box vendor accountable by asking it to fix the software problems that led to this discrepancy.
“What is need is a software patch from our vendor so we can get accurate numbers being reported.” Davis said. “I'm confident revenue that's collected eventually gets into the bank. However, we are going to hold the vendor responsible for providing us with the necessary fix so that we can adequately record and also track revenue collections.”
The audit also revealed flaws in the tracking of cash boxes after they were removed from buses and trains, with a total of 12 missing or broken keys. "That issue has been corrected. We have changed out all of the keycard access to our system.” Davis said. “We did need to have a more thorough evaluation and use of those keys during the testing and implementation phase. We have since changed out all the locks and all of the keys.”
He concluded, “I appreciate the auditor's group coming in and reviewing the system we have in place and giving us recommendations. And we are committed to putting in the controls that are necessary to close the issues that are put into the audit.”
