MBTA money must help transit system move forward
Everybody, it seems, has an opinion about what's wrong with the MBTA and how to fix it.
But there's one thing that each of the many blue-ribbon panels that have looked into the T's problems has agreed on: We can't expect to fix the T for the long term without investing more money in the system and getting more value from every dollar we spend.
Gov. Charlie Baker's special panel on the MBTA is the latest to reject the “reform vs. revenue” debate because, in the panel's words, “the MBTA needs both.”
So, it's disappointing and puzzling that the governor's MBTA reform legislation, now before the legislature, proposed cutting over half a billion dollars that had been pledged toward the state's transportation system (which also includes regional transportation authorities, plus roads and bridges) under legislation passed two years ago.
That law — along with reforms adopted in 2009 — took important steps toward bringing the MBTA and Massachusetts' transportation system into the 21st century. The laws streamlined governance, eliminated many wasteful practices, and established a process to ensure that future transportation spending delivers the greatest bang for the buck.
Those reforms from the 2013 law are still being implemented. And, as the special panel concluded, there are many additional steps that must be taken to ensure that the MBTA is run efficiently and effectively. With the Baker administration in control of the T, odds are better that those important steps will be taken.
But cutting funding for transportation across the state and the MBTA — funding that many previous studies suggest is still woefully inadequate for current and future needs — would eliminate a critical fiscal safety net just as the high-wire act of reforming the T begins.
Without that safety net, the MBTA may be forced to rely on self-defeating service cuts or major fare hikes. That's clearly not the governor's preference, based on recent remarks before lawmakers.
MBTA riders, however, know the history here. In the last decade, an effort at fiscal accountability led to a squeeze that left riders subject to a cycle of major fare hikes and threats of dramatic service cuts, even as equipment and service deteriorated and the MBTA fell further into debt. As recently as 2012, the MBTA proposed cutting 100 bus lines and raising fares up to 43 percent to make ends meet. That's why, in 2013, the legislature wisely stepped in to put the T on more solid financial ground and prevent history from repeating itself.
The hundreds of thousands of people who use the MBTA daily — and the many businesses that rely on it — crave stability and confidence after last winter's fiasco. As the legislature considers the governor's proposal, keeping in place the funding they wisely provided in 2013 and maintaining the limits on fare hikes would assure riders that the more recent service interruptions won't be met by a new round of disruption in the coming months and years.
The commonwealth should seize this unprecedented opportunity to build a “reliable, predictable, affordable” transit system for Massachusetts, the kind of system that can support and encourage continued economic growth and prosperity.
Kristina Egan is the director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a Boston-based transportation advocacy group. Jesse Mermell is executive director of the Alliance for Business Leadership, a Cambridge-based organization.
of business leaders.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments