Keller @ Large: Secretary Pollack Promises Changes At The MBTA

BOSTON (CBS) - The new Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack has admitted shortcomings that led to the MBTA mess this winter. Pollack says they have to make changes to everything they do.

Even though the reform recommendations of a special commission appointed by the governor aren't due until next week, the status quo shakeup at the T is already underway, accompanied by a promise from the secretary that there's much more to come.

"There's going to have to be a lot of changes made at the MBTA in pretty much everything they do," Pollack said.

The Secretary of Transportation has a message for folks at the T and Commuter Rail who thought that doing the same things they've always done when bad weather hit would see them through the "Snowpocalypse" of 2015.

"What happened was when the same thing stopped working in February; there wasn't much of a plan B," Pollack said.

So Secretary Pollack and Governor Charlie Baker have installed former Mass Highway Chief Frank DePaola atop the T.

"I believe we really need to have a cultural change here," said MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola.

With a mandate: turn this dysfunctional disgrace into a functioning, reliable transit system.

"You don't always need to have a transit professional to make decisions. A lot of this is business and management decisions, what is the best way? We're looking for efficiencies and we're looking for performance," DePaola said.

DePaola is not of the agency which will help bring in some new thinking.

But what about the MassDOT board of directors, most of whom were in place when this disaster was brewing?

They have near-total power over the system, not Governor Baker and Secretary Pollack.

"We need to give him and me enough power to actually make a difference," said Secretary Pollack.