State warns on oversight of The Ride funds
The MBTA program that provides bus and van service to disabled people did not keep close enough track of the payments it made to transportation contractors for gasoline, the state auditor’s office said yesterday.
The program, called The Ride, reimbursed four contractors $15 million for fuel over a four-year period ending in July 2008. Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci’s office said that MBTA files should have contained supporting documentation such as detailed credit card reports and vehicle mileage and ridership reports.
But an audit found there was “very little documentation’’ for the reimbursements, said Glenn Briere, a spokesman for the auditor. Pointing out that the transportation contractors also do private business, Briere said, “If that documentation isn’t there, the T cannot ensure that all these requests for fuel reimbursements were for actual Ride expenses.’’
In a written response included in the audit report, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority did not directly address the past lack of documentation.
But the public transit agency said it took the process of submitting documentation very seriously and added that contractors are required to maintain financial and other records and allow them to be inspected by the MBTA and other agencies.
“The MBTA believes this level of documentation and the MBTA review of the documentation meets the requirements to justify the fuel reimbursement provided to the RIDE vendors,’’ the MBTA said.
Deborah Johnson - financial manager for one of the contractors - said gas paid for by the MBTA was used to provide The Ride services and “definitely nothing else.’’
The audit also found that the MBTA should have better informed its customers of $733,000 in unused fare money.
