In the wake of an independent report detailing repair and maintenance concerns on MBTA lines, Gov. Deval Patrick says he wants to assure the public the system is safe to ride.

But the report's author, hand-picked by the governor, doesn't seem to agree. Former insurance executive David D'Alessandro said he would not ride a stretch of the Red Line identified as susceptible to derailment.

That has Transportation Committee co-chair Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, calling for action.

"I'm calling upon the administration to conduct an investigation as to the safety of the Red Line. That should already be underway," Baddour told the State House News Service. "You can't say the report is meritorious and then ignore things you don't like."

D'Alessandro's investigation detailed $543 million worth of "safety-critical" repair and maintenance projects still undone due to lack of funding.

But the fact is there will never be enough money to improve service and make needed repairs in a system crippled by union work rules that are among the most restrictive of any in the nation, and salaries and benefits that rank among the most generous.

That's what the governor and the Legislature must fix before they contemplate any increase in taxes or fares to address the problems outlined in D'Alessandro's report. Sadly, many of the most-needed reforms were scuttled as legislators caved to union pressure in the days leading up to passage earlier this year of a bill combining the state's highway and public transit functions in a new Department of Transportation.

Indeed, the new five-member board that oversees the new agency includes at least one unabashed union advocate (Janice Loux, president of UNITE HERE! Local 26).

Senate Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading, termed the appointments a missed opportunity, adding, "In order for the overhaul to the transportation system to reach its true cost-saving potential, it will take new leadership and bold implementation, not more of the same."

Gov. Patrick was bold enough to ride the Red Line Wednesday right through those tunnels described by D'Alessandro as most in danger of failing. And he's smart enough to sense there's no appetite for increased taxes of any kind, or more fare or toll hikes, to fund the repairs his consultant is advocating.

The absolute first priority must be to change the labyrinth of personnel policies, contractual work rules and past practices that make managing the T an exercise in frustration; and putting a lid on the salary, health insurance and pension costs that soak up virtually every extra dollar — including the $275 million yielded by this summer's sales-tax increase — the transit agency receives.

Until those at the Statehouse muster the courage to take on the unions and run the MBTA more like a business and less like a public charity, the system — like some of those Red Line trains — will keep lurching from one crisis to the next.