Secretary on MBTA Services and Fares

Posted by:
Secretary James Aloisi, Executive Office of Transportation

As you read or hear about possible financial scenarios and options for closing the MBTA's $160 million budget deficit, it is important to remember that no decisions have been made about service reductions or fare increases. 

The T staff brought forward to the board at a public meeting one month ago a budget for the fiscal year beginning in July 2009 that includes the projected deficit and shows the T's extraordinarily difficult budget circumstance.  Just one example is the cost of the principal and interest payments as the bills come due on $5.2 billion in Big Dig-related debt.  Those debt payments next year will increase by $77 million, and debt payments overall consume 30% of T revenues. 

Despite this daunting financial challenge, as Chairman of the MBTA board and your Transportation Secretary I am committed to reviewing every available option to cut costs and close the gap. Right now the MBTA is busy analyzing a full range of options that may or may not include service cuts. But it is too early to tell since no formal set of options has been presented to me.

At the same time, Governor Patrick 's Transportation and Economic Security Plan calls for fundamental reforms in transportation and in pension benefits, including ending the "23 and out" retirement benefit at the T. The House and Senate have passed reform bills and will soon meet to hammer out the differences.  The Governor has also said that only after comprehensive and meaningful reforms are in place should we consider using additional gas tax revenues to avoid service reductions and fare increases at the T. 

As these ideas are considered in the coming weeks and months, I want to assure T riders that any decisions about services and fares will be made only after a complete and transparent public review process. Whether they are using the T to get to work, school or to a doctor’s appointment millions of our state’s residents depend on the T as a critical transportation service. I am committed to ensuring that the MBTA undertakes a robust civic engagement process before any decisions are reached. 

Comments

[John & Charline Oelfke]

Perhaps one "reform" might be to stop spending money on projects that are obsolete before they are open. Parking garages, with capacities less than current ridership and no place to expand do not seem like a good use of public funds. Any new parking facility should be designed and the site criteria should include, the ability to expand it significantly during its useful lfe,also the ability to add "multi-modal capability so that in rural areas, you can support a van/bus feeder system to relieve traffic on smaller highways and larger one such as rte 2 which is already full. The other consideration should be the needs of the communities that COULD use the station were it convient and the train schedule was adequate to meet the needs of commuter and non-comuters. I see a number of surveys of Train "riders" but very few of Non-train riders to find out what it would take to get them OFF the raod. Adequate parking and frequent trains may be one set of answers.

I hope that the "powers that be" will re-examine the idea of a small garages vs the concept of a "regional, Multi-modal" one, located at a more central and accessible site. make the comparison based on tomorrow's paradigm and parameters and see where the best use of the state's precious funds really resides.

John & Charline

[Working Class Citizen]

NEGOTIATE DONT LEGISLATE....

[Ari Herzog]

I'm curious why you mention the Governor considering eliminating the "23 and out" retirement benefits at the MBTA, but not cutting back on health insurance benefits and other suggestions, as outlined by the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation at http://www.masstaxpayers.org/files/MBTA report - NT.pdf

When you consider the leaked report to the Boston Globe indicates the "backup plan" of service cuts, fare hikes, and job losses is the MBTA's way of alleviating a $160 million shortfall, the MTF plan that revolves around BENEFITS ALONE could save the same money.

It would be great if you could take a leading role here to dictate to the MBTA that benefits, not service, is the key issue. You can read more about my take on my blog at http://ariwriter.com/2009/04/has-the-mbta-lost-its-transportation-mind/

[Charlie Denison]

Cutting service at the T would be absolutely catastrophic, particularly for people who do not own or do not wish to own cars. We would be limiting the mobility of many and introducing additional congestion that our roads cannot handle. We need better transit that runs MORE often and MORE efficiently. To cut service and raise fares now would be the absolute wrong thing at the wrong time, for so many reasons.

We need reform and revenue, and we need it now! Let's make the T better, not worse!

[Adam Sowalsky]

The state has touted "transit-oriented development" for decades. Half of this state depends heavily on the MBTA for their jobs and for living their lives. Cutting off more than 50% of the T's service to plug a budget gap of less than 10% is not only foolish, it's disgusting. The problem with the MBTA is threefold:
1) Its employees are overpaid and underdeserving of the generous benefits it receives.
2) Its construction projects run overbudget because it must re-invent the wheel every time rather than using trusted and time-tested materials
3) It does not run at enough hours as it is. I would bet everything that service running to 2am on all lines would be used, and I don't mean bus substitution of the subway. A city can't be a city when public transportation ends as many as five hours before last-call.

Fix the problem. Don't blow up the planet to kill a fly. The proposals are cutting of your nose to spite your face. Such actions would destroy the economy of the state. Shame on YOU for allowing the situation to get this bad. The budget cuts should come from within, not at the expense of your (soon-to-be former) customers.

Shame on YOU.

[Denise]

I not shedding a tear for the T - you already overcharge on the commuter line for spotty service, now you are talking about raising the fares AGAIN. How about this? Bring your pension plan in line with the rest of the state and stop paying your employees to do nothing (such as the man who was babysitting the filthy abandoned T building). We're all feeling the pain right now, so reducing your workforce may not be such a bad idea. Why don't you start at the top?

[Sam Musher]

I understand that public transit is expensive, but it *has* to be a priority -- for people and for the planet. If we can find money for roads, we can find money for transit.

We live in one of the few cities in the country where you can have a full life without a car. Service cuts would seriously chip away at that. I am frankly terrified at what the possible cuts would mean for my life and the lives of the many, many other people in this area who rely on the T, the buses, and the commuter rail.

Please be honest with the citizens of MA about what the possibilities are. If we don't get angry enough to put pressure on our representatives, nothing will change.

[angrybostonian]

This is absurd. You are going to take out service for the people who need it the most--poor people and college students. You have no effective public transportation policy and your "plan" for the budget cuts is a joke. Have you ever been abroad? Have you ever seen Paris, Madrid, or London? Even Beijing or Shanghai? How about Tokyo? THOSE are real public transportation systems that are cost effective and efficient. Get your act together and join the 21st century like the rest of the developed world.

[Matthew Mittelstadt]

The first solution to the T's problems is to remove the Big Dig debt load the state burned the MBTA with that the MBTA should have never been burdened with in the first place. The second is to stop the absurd "forward funding" program. The third is for the state to FUND THE MBTA.