T-Rage is leading the troops against the proposed MBTA fare hike. Check out his T Justice page for more info. If you need reasons why the forward funding needs fixing, Jason has the details. What can you do?
First, if you haven’t signed the petition, do so.
Second, contact your state legislators. And prod the mayor’s office and city council to get involved as well… the legislative change needed is out of their purview, but this is an issue that so profoundly affects the city’s residents that they could show more leadership in addressing it.
Third, a rally is scheduled for next Tuesday, June 6, in Copley Square, at 4PM. As Mike puts it, “The rally is not to stick it to the T, it’s to widen the discussion of what’s wrong with the T, and to show legislators that taxpayers and T customers are serious about a system that works for those who need it and those who use it.”
Last, some are calling for a rider’s boycott of the T Tuesday. I’m still not convinced of the need or efficacy of this measure. For me, I’ve already paid for my June T pass, so I’m the one who loses out by walking a very long walk to work, not the T. I could be persuaded - I guess a lot of the symbolic value depends on whether anyone else besides me will actually do this.
In the current Boston magazine, Weekly Dig’s Joe Keohane outlines his soak the suburbs proposal for MBTA fares. I would actually point out that not all suburban commuters are terribly wealthy. (Unlike NY’s financial district, split between the rail-commuters going to Wall Street job and car-commuters going to backoffice jobs in New Jersey, Boston’s downtown has both front office, clerical and backoffice jobs all together.) But he makes the useful point that the MBTA has been heavily oriented toward suburban expansion at the expense of urban expansion or service improvement. The political alignment of the state has given the urbanites short shrift. Let’s hope some much-needed agitation from Bostonians can shine light on the need for a legislative fix on the MBTA’s funding problems.
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