BOSTON—Welcome to the MBTA, where the laws of time, labor, and basic math no longer apply.

A new report from the Pioneer Institute reveals the agency spent a staggering $126.4 million on overtime in FY 2024 — a 48% jump in just three years. The number of MBTA employees who made more than $100,000 in overtime alone? One hundred seventeen.

Not total salary — overtime.

Even more absurd: over 40% of that OT money went to workers who didn’t even log 40 base-pay hours in the same week. Because of long-standing union contract quirks, sick days, vacation time, and holidays still count toward triggering time-and-a-half — a loophole that lets people get paid like they’re working doubles… when they’re not even working full weeks.

Meanwhile, the T continues to bleed riders and money. And while the trains are finally moving a bit faster, the payroll is moving even faster.

To her credit, Governor Maura Healey brought in transit veteran Phil Eng, whose team did what many thought impossible — eliminated the last of the slow zones on the Red and Orange Lines. That milestone comes three years after the infamous Orange Line fire, when a woman had to leap into the Mystic River to escape a burning train.

But faster trains haven’t slowed down bloated spending. Under Healey, MBTA costs have ballooned, and there’s been little appetite for structural reform. The Fiscal and Management Control Board, which once kept OT spending in check, is long gone. And what’s replaced it is… nothing.

What’s left is a system where overtime pays better than base salary, loopholes drive policy, and taxpayers are stuck funding a payroll that looks more like a slot machine. The T says it needs more money. Riders just want the trains to show up. But right now, the only thing arriving on time is the overtime check.