The MBTA is installing 42 phone lines at key employee gathering spots as part of its total ban on employee cell phone use, T General Manager Dan Grabauskas told the Department of Public Utilities today.
Grabauskas said the new phone lines represent one of several steps the T is taking to ensure workers are reachable in an emergency. Grabauskas's comments came at a DPU hearing at which he asked the department to permanently enact the emergency ban put into effect after that May Green Line crash caused by a texting trolley driver.
In addition to the new phone lines, the T has a 24-hour emergency hotline family members can call if they need to get in touch with a T worker. Grabauskas said this has been used 100 times with just one case in which the employee was not reached "in a timely manner." The T now also conducts daily checks of radio equipment on both trains and buses, which he said show the systems work 98% of the time on trains and 95% of the time on buses.
We are committed to putting the necessary systems in place to allay any concerns Operators may have about their families and dependents contacting them in the event of an emergency while they are at work.
Grabauskas's DPU testimony.
