A sobering report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation shows the T won’t be fixed, much less back to normal, any time soon. But that’s no reason to give up on it.

The system, MTF found, needs nearly 50 percent more new hires in the next year than previously estimated – around 2,800, once expected retirements are also factored in – to return to normal service and to make progress on safety repairs and on planned service expansions like the vital redesign of the T’s bus network.