Word: mbta
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...policy. As Big Dig construction winds down and Boston drivers fully enjoy a snazzy new highway system on their fellow taxpayers’ dime, less fortunate mass commuters must now pay 25 percent more for every ride they take out of their own pockets. The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has invoked a variety of excuses for the fare increase, but those who ride the T to work every day know that the idea is an ironic—if not sinister—redistribution of costs from relatively affluent motorists onto the less well-off regulars of public transportation...
Whereas public transportation serves to reduce traffic, pollution and particularly roadway maintenance costs, the Big Dig has raised costs for the MBTA by forcing the authority to rebuild and relocate stations and track lines that were intruding on highway construction. In addition, the 1991 Big Dig contract with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection requires that the MBTA complete a series of projects to provide mitigation for the new Central Artery’s environmental impact. In an independent report released in 2002, the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that these mitigation efforts alone would cost the MBTA...
...ersatz subway route covered mostly by bus service. But downtown, part of the revenues generated by the higher fares will be spent on the construction of a new “Superstation” at the Fleet Center. The seeming message—that the MBTA does not care as much about its service for the poor as it does for its more comfortable riders—is hard to ignore...
Instead of resorting to a fare increase, the state should have addressed the MBTA’s financial difficulties by transferring money from more prosperous agencies and increasing subsidies. The promise not to increase fares again until after 2006 is far too weak a concession. The MBTA should make a more durable commitment to the community of riders by keeping fares low, steering improvement efforts toward the neighborhoods that truly need them and allowing an independent audit of its accounts. As it stands, the fare hike remains a suggestion of a regressive transportation policy in which those who can afford...
According to the MBTA, Boston’s public transportation fees are still the lowest compared to other metropolitan areas, according to the MBTA spokesperson—even with the recent price hike...