‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
And I jumped out of bed
With visions of runaway trains
In my head.
My dreams, once sullied by
Goblins and witches
Now were made scary by
Levers and switches.
Jolted awake,
I roamed the dark house,
Disturbing the cat who was
Stalking a mouse.
“Sorry,” said I
To my predatory pet,
“That mouse was a morsel
You’ll have to forget.”
“Meow,” said the cat
(And I knew what he meant):
He had nothing to show
For all his time spent.
I stumbled about
In search of my Mac,
Tripped on a rug and
Threw out my back.
And I thought as I lay there
Flat on the floor:
On the topic of transport
Could I possibly say more?
I’d been writing and speaking
And offering ways
To improve the T system
And bring better days
To commuters and riders
With a simple request:
For transit mobility,
Why not the best?
Not everyone shared
This pro-transit view.
Purveyors of old-think
Have a hard time with new.
And history repeats itself
Many times over
As voices of retrenchment
Get bolder and bolder.
More yappy than beagles
They shouted “for shame!
We won’t raise more revenue
And we won’t take the blame”.
“Reform without revenue” –
The slogan sounds pretty
Until you get down to the
Nitty and gritty.
And then you can see
As you look at the facts
That we’ve shortchanged transit
Through a series of acts
That over the decades have
Caused this decline
Through lack of investment
Without reason or rhyme.
I pulled out my laptop
And sat by the fire,
Asking: how did we get
To this awful quagmire?
It will take $7 billion
Just to repair
All that needs fixing
But I didn’t despair –
I poured me an eggnog
Laced with some brandy,
The kind of sleep aid
I always keep handy.
And the drink did its trick
For in less time than it seemed
I nodded off in my chair
And started to dream . . .
T riders were nestled
All snug in their beds
Wiped out from commutes
That gave pain to their heads.
Their dreams were of trolleys
And buses and bike lanes
And quality service on
All sorts of new trains –
Trains that arrived
Modern and gleaming
And always on time,
both morning and evening.
As night became morning
I woke from the dream
With my cat on my lap,
Its paws in my spleen.
I woke bright and merry
And thought I would write
On the importance of getting
Our transit future right.
As I started to type
My thoughts flowed like honey:
The T needs investment.
The T needs more money.
More funding for fixing
Systems old and quite broken.
More funding for maintenance –
Much more than a token.
More funding to innovate
So we keep up the pace –
Embracing the future
Means winning the race.
Accelerated bridge repair
Was thought a “no-brainer.”
Let’s do that for transit
It couldn’t be plainer.
Then I stopped in a start
And thought: “say no more.
You’ve said this already,
You’ve said this before.”
So I shut down the Mac:
I had no more to say.
And I tried to relax and
Enjoy Christmas Day.
And I hope, dear reader, that
This brought you some cheer.
Best wishes for now,
And a transit-friendly New Year.
With apologies (and thanks) to Clement Clarke Moore and Dr. Seuss. James Aloisi is a former state transportation secretary and a principal at the Pemberton Square Group.