Well, Romney has signed the bill that effectively allows the MBTA to raise fares. The agency promises public hearings and increased efficiency before hiking fares, but it looks like a done deal. It’s clear that both the legislature and the governor want the MBTA to take the heat rather than entertain a debate over how public transit should be funded and whether the tax freeze is worth making the city’s poor pay more for daily transportation (Though tax freeze is misleading; in effect, subway riders will being taxed $120 a year, bus+subway riders $170 and commuter rail riders significantly more). Certainly, the T is facing a fiscal crisis with declining state funding (since based on a sales tax) and declining ridership (for unclear reasons, though unemployment and decreased tourism must play a role). What is objectionable is not increased costs in form of tax or fares to cover this shortfall. We will need to pay or see decreased service, which frankly the system cannot afford. What the problem is making poorer riders bear a disproportionate slice of the state’s budget problems.
To this end - and given that fare hikes look imminent - there might be a practical solution: combine the subway and bus systems into one fare schedule. Residents of poorer neighborhoods not only have to navigate labyrinthine bus schedules, but they have to pay about 2/3 more to use the bus and subway lines they need to get around the city. They could get rid of the Bus pass and make the Subway pass the same as a Combo pass, good for both means of transit. For single-fare riders, transfers could be good from bus to subway or vice versa. Of course, this wouldn’t solve the T’s budget problem (lack of Combo pass sales would have to be compensated by even higher Subway pass costs), but it would give poorer riders a since of class equity and also offer a new benefit for middle-class riders as compensation for the increased fares.
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