Word: mbta
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Lately, I’ve found myself having to explain that I don’t work for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)—the public corporation that runs Greater Boston’s T—far more often than usual. I don’t imagine that it’s my appearance that leads so many Bostonians to suspect this employment. But as someone in favor of the MBTA’s recently announced fare hikes, I might as well be wearing a T patch on the side of my button-down blue shirt...
...When the MBTA announced early this summer that, starting in 2007, subway fares will rise from $1.25 to $1.70 per ride, and bus fares will jump from $0.90 to $1.25, the organization surprised few; commentators had been anticipating just such a move from the deeply indebted MBTA for years. Likewise, it has hardly been a surprise that opposition to the fare change has sprung up across the city. Yet the virulence of this opposition is, in many ways, beyond what could have been expected. Groups and publications including The Phoenix and the T Riders’ Union have accused...
Although many have challenged the necessity of a fare increase, there are few who can reasonably dispute that the MBTA is facing a budget crisis of gargantuan proportions. Like public transit agencies across the country, the MBTA is reliant on sales taxes, in addition to the fares it collects and the fees it earns from advertisements, to fund its operating budget. Unfortunately, it has seen revenues fall radically short of projected levels, and has had to rely on stopgap bonds from the state government to stay afloat. Adding to the challenge is the 27 percent of its budget the organization...
...compensate for its humungous and growing deficit, the MBTA needs to do one of two things: cut costs or raise revenues. The only way for the agency to effectively accomplish the former would be to eliminate routes and offer otherwise reduced services, or to curtail its employees’ wages or benefits. Both would be disastrous for the citizens of Boston. The MBTA has sensibly opted to take the revenue-raising course, so that it may maintain or even improve upon current levels of service...
...terms of bolstering its income, the MBTA has few options. Sales taxes could be increased, but this option rests in the hands of the legislature, not the MBTA, and it is almost certainly politically infeasible. Although the organization could improve its advertising, this accounts for less than 10 percent of total revenue and cannot bridge the gap between income and expenditures. Only streamlined and increased fares can allow the MBTA to maintain its current services without hurting its employees...