Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers last fall readied subway tracks for the coming winter. (Photo courtesy of the MBTA)
About a half dozen people tasked with cash-handling duties within the MBTA urged the transit agency’s overseers on Monday not to outsource the agency’s money room operations.
Looking at an overhaul of the MBTA’s fare collection systems, agency officials have considered employing a private vendor that could take responsibility when fare gates fail. Under the current system, when fare gates are stuck open, the T can miss out on rider revenue.
MBTA Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve has previously said there are 165 employees at the T’s money room in Charlestown’s Sullivan Square.
Robert Beaudoin, a 16-year MBTA employee who said the money room hours offered greater stability than his prior work driving a bus, predicted problems if people earning lower wages took over handling more than $100 million in T funds.
“I have no doubt you will have problems,” Beaudoin told the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board at the start of a meeting where outsourcing cash handling operations appears on the agenda.
“It would be difficult for me to go back to work as a bus driver,” said Monica Orr, who said she started working in the money room in 2011. She said receiving work in the money room was “the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers last fall readied subway tracks for the coming winter. (Photo courtesy of the MBTA) 
